Many forms of dental work are so seamless as to be invisible. Other people will be completely unaware of your dental restorations (unless you choose to tell them), and it can be that you tend to forget about the work yourself. This can be the case with dental bonding, which is when your dentist has rebuilt damaged sections of your teeth by applying a tooth-coloured resin, which then dries and hardens (literally bonding to your teeth). Still, you might become all too aware of your dental bonding in the following years, and this can happen when you decide to whiten your teeth.

Whitening at Home

Whitening your teeth can seem simple. For some products, you just apply your chosen teeth whitening product to the applicator trays, pop them into your mouth for the recommended time, and your teeth will then become progressively whiter. It's slightly more complicated when you have dental bonding. While the active ingredients in whitening solution will whiten your dental enamel, the dental bonding is a type of resin, and won't react to the whitening solution in any meaningful way.

A Striking Look

The teeth whitening product generally can't be faulted, because it is in fact whitening your teeth. The trouble is that your dental bonding is not a natural part of your tooth, and while it can become discoloured like a natural tooth, it will not whiten like a natural tooth. In fact, you can easily end up with two colour tones on a single tooth, with the enamel having responded to the treatment, while the dental bonding has not. This can result in a uniquely striking look, but it is likely not the look you want.

Freshening Your Dental Bonding

To achieve the uniformly whitened smile you're after, it might be time to freshen up your dental bonding. The resin material applied to your teeth won't last forever, although it's extremely durable. So really, it's just a case of having your dental bonding replaced in the shade of whiteness you were hoping to achieve, and then having your dentist whiten the enamel portions of the teeth (as well as your other teeth that didn't require any bonding) to match the newly-applied bonding. The emphasis is then on maintaining this level of whitening so you don't have a colour mismatch between your enamel and the dental resin material.

Dental bonding isn't going to stop you from whitening your teeth, but it is going to mean you'll need a bit of extra help to achieve the look you're going for. For more information about teeth whitening, contact a local dental office.

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