Repairing Chipped Teeth

Don't let chipped teeth ruin your smile—or the health of your teeth. Seemingly minor chips leave the tooth susceptible to further breakage. Protect your smile with one of the following options:

    Bonding. A plastic resin, or bonding material, applied to your teeth can fix many imperfections, including chips. Your dentist will buff your teeth, then apply phosphoric acid to create tiny crevices in the enamel. These crevices are what the resin will slip into and stick to. Your dentist will then apply the resin and sculpt it into an attractive shape that fits in with the look of the rest of your teeth. He or she will then polish your teeth to make sure the colour matches that of the rest of the teeth, as well.

    Tooth Contouring & Reshaping. One of the few instant fixes cosmetic dentistry offers. Your cosmetic dentist will remove a little of the existing tooth enamel (the outside covering of the tooth) and replace it with a little bonding to "sculpt" you a brand new look. After x-rays to ensure the tooth can sustain the procedure (to make sure there is enough pulp within the tooth and bone between the teeth), your dentist will gradually remove small amounts of enamel with a sanding drill or laser. He or she will then shape the sides of your teeth with abrasive strips. Next, your dentist will polish your teeth. He or she may attach a veneer, a ceramic shell sculpted specifically for your tooth, or bonding, a thin coating of plastic or resin that covers tooth imperfections. Tooth contouring is a quick and inexpensive process.

    Porcelain Veneers. You can mask chipped teeth and whiten teeth all at once with porcelain veneers, natural-looking ceramic "masks" for your teeth. Veneers are like thin shells the dentist slips onto the front of your teeth. A fter a consultation session, your dentist buffs half a millimeter off your teeth in order to create room for the veneer and casts a mold based on your newly thinned teeth. Within a few weeks (during which you wear temporary veneers), you return to the office to have your veneers fitted, then sealed into place using cement and a blue light.