Dental Bonding in Gretna LA
Dr. Schafer enjoys giving people back their smiles. Many people have good healthy teeth that are in need of a touch up to make their good smile become a great smile. At NOLA Dentures and General Dentistry, Dr. Schafer does esthetic bonding to your pearly whites to help your smile look young and healthy.
Non-Invasive Esthetic Dentistry
Too often teeth are ground down, destroying the healthy tooth structure in order to give the “perfect” smile. Unfortunately, this often traumatizes the teeth and hurts the tooth's nerve. Hopefully, the nerve heals, but sometimes the tooth requires root canals or worse. While sometimes shaping is required to get the best smile possible, often times less invasive and less expensive methods can be used to get you the smile you want.
Due to modern technology, we can prevent needless grinding on teeth by bonding beautiful tooth-colored restorations to the teeth. Many times, you don't even need to be numbed for the procedure avoiding scary injections as well as ensuring that your tooth's nerve isn't irritated after the procedure. Often this esthetic bonding can be done in worn teeth as well as in young teeth.
Prematurely Worn Teeth
Teeth have a rough life. They are used and abused on a constant basis. We grind them when we are stressed. We eat tough and crunchy foods. Some of us even use them as bottle openers. As we work our teeth, they constantly wear. Some people's smiles wear a little, whereas others wear a lot. These worn teeth can chip, fracture, or become flattened, making them look worn out and aged.
One option for restoring these teeth is to add tooth structure back to the teeth by doing esthetic bonding. While crowns and veneers are often used to fix worn smiles, esthetic bonding works well for these smiles as it is not harmful to the teeth, easy to maintain, and lower cost.
Young Teeth
Kids and teenagers sometimes require esthetic bonding either because their teeth are too small for their mouth or because of trauma.
Many times teens have spaces or diastemas between their front teeth because their jaw is much bigger than their teeth. Even with 2 or 3 years of braces, these spaces can still remain. In these young adults, esthetic bonding works well for the same reasons mentioned above: not invasive, easy to maintain, and lower cost compared to veneers.
Many kids also get bumps, bruises, and scratches just being kids. While thankfully kids generally heal up well, any damage done to the teeth doesn't heal up as well. When kids chip or break their front teeth, esthetic bonding repairs the damage. If you still have the broken piece, please bring it with you as sometimes Dr. Schafer can glue it back to the tooth.
Contact Us for a Consultation
Do you think your teeth are too small or too flat? Do you have gaps between your teeth that you wish that you could close? Maybe you have an unsightly chip on your front tooth that you makes you hide your beautiful smile. Dr. Schafer at NOLA Dentures and General Dentistry to give them a uniform, polished appearance.
Frequently Asked Questions
A chip is a common form of damage that an otherwise healthy tooth may suffer. When it happens on a tooth further back in your mouth, it may bother you less. But the damage to a front tooth is highly noticeable and may make you especially embarrassed of your smile.
So, if you have a chipped tooth in Gretna, the first thing you should do is contact our dental office so we can help you decide the urgency of your condition. Often a chip may be part of a more significant fracture which we should repair before it endangers your entire tooth.
If the problem is simply aesthetic, we may eliminate it with one of several cosmetic dental treatments.
How We Repair a Chipped Tooth
We have a few ways of restoring a chipped tooth. One way is to sculpt with the same composite resin material we use to fill dental cavities in a process called dental bonding. First, our skilled cosmetic dentist adds the composite to your tooth after tinting it to match its natural shade. Then, we use a special blue light to harden the resin once we've achieved the desired shape.
While a dental bonding procedure is usually in one office visit, another option is a porcelain veneer that covers a tooth's entire chipped surface. A veneer is more durable than a dental bonding restoration but also requires that we remove some tooth enamel, making it a permanent addition to your smile.
Our dental team will help advise you on which option best fits your oral health condition, budget, and smile goals.
If you receive dental bonding in New Orleans, here are a few aftercare tips:
#1 Brush Everyday
Brush your teeth twice daily using fluoride toothpaste, and be sure to clean all sides of your teeth and tongue. Also, toothbrushes don’t last forever, so replace yours a few times a year, especially after being sick.
#2 Floss without Fail
Floss daily between each tooth and gently reach down to the gumline.
#3 Drink Plenty of Water
If you can’t brush after a meal, the next best thing is to rinse your mouth with water to reduce acid levels and clean away food particles.
#4 Avoid Foods and Drinks That Stain
Coffee, red wine, soda, tobacco, acidic foods, and foods with artificial coloring can make your teeth appear brown and stained. Though these substances won’t affect the bonding’s structure, the stains can collect on the front teeth and look unsightly.
#5 Avoid Biting Down
Avoid eating or biting down on hard, sharp, or chewy foods, as this can wear down dental bonding and tooth enamel. Hard or chewy foods can include ice, nuts, taffy, candies, and more.
#6 Eliminate Bad Habits
Biting your fingernails and chewing on pen caps can wear down your dental bonding and enamel. Habits like these can also fracture, chip, or break teeth.
Call Us about Dental Bonding in New Orleans
Do you have a chipped, misshapen, or fractured tooth? Give us a call today to schedule an appointment with our team at NOLA Dentures and General Dentistry. We offer various services to restore your smile, including attractive and durable dental bonding.
Dental bonding is a versatile, minimally invasive cosmetic procedure that addresses a variety of dental imperfections to enhance the aesthetics of a person’s smile. Here are a few of the most common reasons that individuals opt for dental bonding:
- Repairing chips and cracks. Dental bonding is very effective at repairing minor chips and cracks, both restoring the integrity and appearance of damaged teeth.
- Closing gaps between teeth. Dental bonding is an excellent option for seamlessly closing small gaps or spaces between teeth with a natural-looking effect.
- Concealing discolorations. Dental bonding is effective in creating a brighter, more radiant smile by concealing discolorations or stains on teeth.
- Reshaping irregular teeth. Dental bonding can help to restore balance to a person’s smile by reshaping misshapen or uneven teeth.
- Covering exposed tooth roots. For individuals with receding gums, dental bonding can address sensitivity by covering exposed tooth roots while also improving the teeth's appearance.
Whether it's minor aesthetic improvements or more extensive smile transformations, dental bonding offers a flexible and effective solution!
Top-Quality Dental Bonding in New Orleans
If you’re looking for a Gretna dentist with the experience and expertise to restore the form, function, and aesthetics of your smile via dental bonding, contact dentist Dr. Russell Schafer and the NOLA Dentures team to schedule a consultation!
We have good news if you’re considering cosmetic dentistry but feel the price points are out of reach. Cosmetic dentistry in Gretna, LA, has options that fit various budgets, including dental bonding.
Dental bonding relies on the same composite resin used in tooth-colored fillings. With this approach, your dentist can spread the composite over the flaw, set it with a special light, and finish with a polish. In most cases, bonding can be completed during a single office visit.
Tooth bonding can conceal the following cosmetic issues:
- Misshapen tooth
- Stained tooth
- Chipped and cracked tooth
- Small gaps between teeth
With dental bonding, you can treat a single tooth or several, and the results can last for some time with proper care.
As with any cosmetic treatment, it is still essential to visit your dentist regularly and adopt and implement an excellent oral care routine between dental checkups and teeth cleanings.
Would You Like to Arrange a Consultation for Dental Bonding in Gretna?
Before giving the okay for any dental procedure, your dentist makes sure it will deliver the results you’re hoping for. To get started, contact a member of our helpful team to schedule your initial visit. And never hesitate to reach out if you have questions.
We create beautiful smiles in New Orleans and surrounding areas including Gretna, Timberlane, Belle Chase, Marrero Harvey, Terrytown, and Woodmere.
Kids being kids chip their teeth pretty frequently. If baby teeth are chipped, Dr. Schafer doesn't recommend any treatment unless the teeth are causing pain. Dr. Schafer doesn't fix chipped baby teeth that don't hurt because the repair doesn't last very long. If it is an adult tooth, Dr. Schafer recommends esthetic bonding on the tooth to help replace the missing part of the tooth. Because the jaw is growing and the child's bite is changing though, these fillings generally only last one to three years. It is not unusual for a six-year-old who has chipped his front tooth to need the bonding redone 3 or 4 times before he has finished growing in his early 20's.
Repairing Chipped Teeth Through the Years
As your child grows, the opposing teeth generally start biting into the restoration, and natural teeth are able to fracture these bondings. Occasionally braces are needed to create an even bite to help protect the restoration so that it lasts for the longest amount of time possible. Despite these difficulties, Dr. Schafer still recommends these minimally invasive restorations for many patients and he has a couple of these himself. Even if the piece breaks off again, generally the natural tooth beneath the filling is not affected and a new piece can be put on again.
Meet Our Doctor:
Russell Schafer DDS
Dr. Russell Schafer is happy and proud to call New Orleans his home. He was born in New Orleans, raised in Pearl River, and attended Jesuit High School and graduated in 2003. He went to Rice University in Houston where he graduated with a bachelors and masters in mechanical engineering degree. While at Rice, Dr. Schafer was a a cheerleader for all four years, active in Rice Catholic Student Association as well as student government, and tutored fellow students as well. Before attending dental school, Dr. Schafer spent ...
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