Caring for Your Bonding

The First Few Days

Composite is fully set by the light before you leave, so you can eat and drink straight away. There's no waiting for it to harden. For the first couple of days, go easy on strongly coloured food and drink such as coffee, red wine and curry, and avoid biting anything hard with the bonded teeth while you get used to them.

New bonding can feel slightly different to your tongue and lips at first. That settles within a few days as you stop noticing it. If anything feels high when you bite together, or a tooth feels like it meets before the others, tell us. A small adjustment at your review fixes it. We see you about two weeks after the bonding appointment to check your bite and give everything a final polish.

Everyday Care

Bonding needs the same routine as your natural teeth, with a couple of small changes.

• Brush twice a day with a soft or medium brush and a non-abrasive fluoride toothpaste. An electric toothbrush is fine, as long as you let it do the work rather than scrubbing.
• Avoid whitening toothpastes. Their abrasives dull the polished surface of composite over time.
• Clean between your teeth every day. Slide floss out sideways rather than snapping it up through the contact, so you don't catch the edge of the bonding.
• Rinse with water after tea, coffee or red wine.
• Keep your dental examinations and hygiene visits, where the bonding is checked and polished.

None of this is difficult. The people whose bonding lasts longest are usually just the ones who keep up a steady routine.

What Stains Bonding

Composite can pick up stain over time, more than porcelain does and in much the same way as natural teeth. Coffee, tea, red wine, curry, turmeric, berries and smoking are the main culprits. Smoking stains composite quickly, and it's the one habit that makes a visible difference within months rather than years.

You don't have to give any of it up. Rinsing with water afterwards helps, and using a straw for dark or fizzy drinks keeps them off your front teeth. Most surface stain lifts with a polish at your hygiene visit, and air polishing with Airflow uses a fine stream of warm water, air and powder to remove it gently. Stain that has worked into the surface or along the join between composite and tooth is a sign the bonding is due a refresh.

Habits to Avoid

Composite is strong, but it's thin at the edges, and that's where chips start. The habits that break bonding are the ones that put sudden force on a single point.

• Biting nails, pens, pencils or hard sweets
• Opening packets, bottles or labels with your teeth
• Chewing ice
• Biting straight through very hard food with your front teeth. Cut apples, crusty bread and the like into pieces instead

If you play contact sport, a custom sports mouthguard, £190, protects the bonding as well as your teeth. Beyond that, treat bonded teeth as you would treat your own: they're for eating, not for tools.

Wear a Guard at Night

Wearing a night-time retainer or a night guard is one of the best ways to protect your bonding. A night guard takes the force of grinding and clenching, which can chip or wear composite edges while you sleep. A retainer also stops your teeth from moving, so your bonding stays in line as it was designed. This matters most if you've had Invisalign or braces, because teeth naturally try to drift back.

If you had Invisalign with us, your Vivera retainers are included in your package, and wearing them at night does both jobs. A custom night guard is £210, and an Essix retainer for one arch is £214. We'll recommend which suits you at your review. If you wake with a tight jaw, notice worn or flattened edges, or your partner hears you grinding, mention it, because grinding is the most common reason bonding fails early. Our guide to teeth grinding explains the signs.

Polishing and Hygiene Visits

At your hygiene visits we polish the bonding to restore its shine. It's the easiest way to keep it looking new, and it also lets us check the edges for early wear or chips before you notice them. A 30-minute hygiene visit is £70, or £100 with Airflow, and both are included in our dental plans.

Most people see the dental therapist every three to six months, depending on their gums. Tell the therapist which teeth are bonded, so they're polished with the right paste and cups. Composite is polished differently from enamel, and the wrong abrasive takes the gloss off rather than putting it back.

Chips and Repairs

If a corner chips, don't worry. It can usually be repaired by adding composite in a short visit, without redoing the whole tooth. Keep any piece that comes away, avoid biting on that tooth, and contact us. A photo on WhatsApp, 07761 066850, is enough for us to tell you what's needed and book the right length of appointment.

Don't try to smooth a sharp edge yourself with a nail file or emery board. If an edge is catching your lip or tongue, a little orthodontic wax from a pharmacy covers it until you're seen. If a bonded tooth is painful rather than just chipped, call us on 0141 248 1183. We keep same-day appointments every weekday for people in pain, whether or not you're registered with us.

When It's Time for a Refresh

Bonding lasts three to five years on average, and often longer with care. The signs that it's due a refresh are a surface that stays dull or rough after a polish, stain that won't lift, a dark line along the join between the composite and your tooth, or edges that have worn short or chipped more than once. A refresh usually means re-polishing or replacing the outer layer, not starting again.

If you'd like a whiter smile at the same time, the order matters. Composite keeps the colour it was made in, so we whiten your natural teeth first and refresh the bonding to match the new shade. Our guide to whitening before bonding explains the timing. We'll tell you at your dental examinations when a refresh is worth doing, rather than leaving you to guess.

Questions

This guide is general information, not a diagnosis. A dentist needs to examine you to say what is right for your teeth.