Minor tooth problems like chips, gaps, or small cavities can be improved by using tooth-colored composite bonding material. Unlike veneers, bonding is only applied to a small portion of the tooth, to reshape the tooth’s appearance or cover up stains or cracks. It can even be formed to fill in a chipped tooth. In the hands of a skilled practitioner, these changes made with composite bonding are imperceptible. It’s a convenient, affordable treatment that dramatically improves the smiles of Dr. Fernandez’ patients.
It takes years of training, an artist’s eye, and careful attention to detail to make the dental bonding completely indistinguishable from a natural tooth. The bonding material is applied to one very thin layer at a time, almost like the underpainting technique used by the Old Masters of the Renaissance to produce their paintings.
When your decayed tooth needs more than a filling but less than a crown to restore it, Dr. Fernandez will use a porcelain inlay or an onlay to bring your tooth back to a healthy state and appearance. Inlays are used when the decay is within the indented top surface (cusp) of a tooth, and an onlay is used when the cavity extends beyond one or more cusps.
