Bonding Vs. Enameloplasty For Tooth Shaping

26 October 2022
 Categories: Dentist, Blog

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It's very common to have teeth that don't match exactly, and cosmetic dentists can change how those teeth look to give your smile a more symmetrical and brighter appearance. Two procedures they can do to change both the shade and shape of your teeth are enameloplasty and bonding. While they both have the same goal, the way they reach those goals varies, and you may decide that one procedure is better for your situation than the other. 

One Requires Removing Enamel, and the Other Does Not

First, enameloplasty involves removing little bits of enamel. If you aren't good with dental drills and similar equipment, enameloplasty could be less than optimal for you. Bonding does not usually involve drilling and could be a better procedure if you're squeamish about enameloplasty. Usually what happens in bonding is the dentist takes a specific material and bonds it to your tooth, shaping it in the process. Bonding is great for filling in chips, for example.

Are You Trying to Make One Tooth Match the Rest?

When you have teeth that aren't very even or symmetrical, that could refer to one tooth being different from the rest, or to multiple teeth being different. If you have one tooth that you're trying to make match the rest, enameloplasty might be more appropriate. For example, if you have front teeth with generally smooth edges except for one tooth that is a little less smooth, you could just remove a tiny bit of enamel to make the tooth look like the rest. But if you have multiple teeth that are shaped a little differently, or you've got some pretty bad stains, bonding all of them to create teeth that are more similarly shaped and that don't look stained would be better.

Is the Problem the Shape or a Sharp Point?

What you're specifically trying to cover or change is also a determining factor. If you have a very sharp point on a molar, for example, enameloplasty might be better as all you need to do is dull that sharp point a bit. For front teeth, maybe you've got those little bumps along the edges of your front teeth that just need to be smoothed out. Enameloplasty would be more appropriate there. However, if you're actually trying to change the shape of the tooth to fill in a misshapen corner on one, then bonding and creating more of a corner on that tooth is more appropriate than trying to remove enamel to make the tooth look more symmetrical.

If you're trying to change how your teeth look, you need to speak with a cosmetic dentist. Which procedure you choose depends on your specific goals, the current state of your teeth, and how well you handle different dental procedures.

If you want to discover more about enameloplasty or bonding, reach out to a cosmetic dentistry clinic near you.