Dental Bonding vs. Porcelain Veneers

If you are unhappy with the appearance of your smile because of many small imperfections in your front teeth, cosmetic dentistry gives you two very good choices to correct them: dental bonding and veneers. Although both treatments are effective, which one is best for you depends on your goals and limitations.

What Veneers and Bonding Can Do for You

Both veneers and dental bonding are versatile treatments that can be used to correct many common cosmetic complaints. Some of the most common reasons people choose veneers or bonding include:

Gap between teeth
Chipped tooth
Worn teeth
Small or poorly shaped teeth
Rotated tooth or teeth
Discolored teeth

Both treatments can be used for all of these cosmetic complaints, but they are not equally good.

Benefits of Dental Bonding

Dental bonding uses composite material that is initially soft and shapeable to restore or reshape a tooth. The putty is a plastic matrix containing ceramic inclusions for strength.

We roughen your tooth slightly, then apply the bonding to the roughed surface. After shaping the putty, we use a curing light to harden it. Sometimes we might have to apply the bonding in layers if we are trying to build up a significant volume of tooth.

Dental bonding is great because it:

Can be completed in one visit
Is relatively inexpensive
Preserves natural tooth structure
Gives good cosmetic results

The convenience and low cost of dental bonding contribute to its popularity. Being able to repair a tooth right away after a dental emergency inspires many people to choose dental bonding. And, of course, the savings are great for people who want cosmetic dentistry but have a tight budget.

Benefits of Veneers

Veneers are thin restorations of advanced dental ceramic that can be bonded to your natural teeth. There are many options for the materials used in veneers, but modern materials blend strength and beauty better than older ones. That way, you can enjoy a new, beautiful smile and don’t have to worry that you’re sacrificing strength.

First, we remove some of your natural teeth to make space for the veneers. Then we take an impression of the prepared teeth. We send these impressions to a lab for the construction of your veneers. Meanwhile, we give you some temporary veneers that look good but aren’t as strong as the final veneers.

Veneers are great because they:

Give the most beautiful results
Are very strong and durable
Can be used in more situations

People choose veneers when they are looking to get the best results, including the most beautiful and strongest results. Veneers are a truly long-term solution, typically lasting more than a decade. Other times, it might be that only veneers are actually capable of achieving the results you’re looking for because bonding isn’t strong enough for the application.

Cost of Dental Bonding vs. Veneers

One of the biggest differences between these two procedures is the cost of dental bonding vs. veneers. But how big is the difference? It’s hard to talk about the difference in cost for your case without knowing the specifics, but we can lay out some general guidelines.

RealSelf is a website that collects information from patients and doctors about cosmetic procedures, including the cost. It’s a good, neutral place to look for cost data. According to RealSelf, the average cost of a dental bonding procedure is $775, while the average cost of a veneers procedure is $6700.

However, this doesn’t tell the full story of the cost of dental bonding vs. veneers because we have to account for the average number of teeth treated. With dental bonding, people are more likely to treat fewer teeth–one or two teeth is normal–while with veneers, it is more typical to treat 4-12 teeth, sometimes even more! Another factor to consider is that sometimes bonding is used for a very small problem, while veneers will cover the entire front of the tooth. That’s why you see cost figures for bonding as low as $25.

Making an apples-to-apples comparison of the cost of dental bonding vs. veneers, you can expect to pay $300-$600 per tooth for bonding and $500-$3500 per tooth for veneers. The wide range in veneer cost reflects the range in veneer quality. It’s very much a “get what you pay for” situation. Not everyone needs the most expensive veneers, but you want to make sure you’re getting a veneer you will be happy with.

Chipped Tooth: Bonding vs. Veneers

If you have a chipped tooth, it can be hard to make a decision on bonding vs. veneers. Often, people make the decision based on when they want or need results. In many cases, people appreciate the fact that they can get a chipped tooth fixed with dental bonding right away.

This is not a bad way to make this decision. Getting bonding now does not affect your ability to get veneers in the future. If you’re comfortable paying for bonding as a short-term solution, then considering getting veneers later when bonding inevitably fails in nine months to a few years later, that is a reasonable decision.

Which Is Right for You in River Edge, NJ?

If you have cosmetic complaints about the appearance of your smile in River Edge, NJ, it can be hard to figure out what is the best treatment to achieve the beautiful smile you desire. We can help. Please call (201) 343-4044 today for an appointment with a cosmetic dentist at the River Edge Dental Center for General & cosmetic Dentistry.