So this area had too much space after braces, but everything else was ideal. Some patients would be fine with the space between these teeth, but it REALLY bothered this patient. So our solution was to add a bit of bonding to either tooth, closing the gap and making it look better.
As you can tell, I obviously did not think these teeth were in need of veneers. A little bonding and a few minutes later they looked like new! I told the patient that she might EVENTUALLY need more definitive restorations (veneers) but for now the bonding was the easiest, least invasive, least expensive alternative. She was thrilled with the results!
And one last look at our before-and-after of the happy patient:
Prior to orthodontics and bonding--full face
After the bonding and ortho--full face
The orthodontist moved the teeth and carefully created the ideal space for a lateral incisor:
Stone model during orthodontics
I won’t show the tooth completely cleaned out, but it turned out to have a very deep cavity. However, after placing the filling, you can barely tell the tooth had any work at all. It came out great!
Finished filling
And only a little more, and you can REALLY see all the cavity!!
Cavity revealed
This tooth has been fractured for MANY years. The patient never really did anything about it, but with a bit more of it breaking recently, she wanted me to ’smooth it out’. I thought the better idea was to replace the missing tooth structure.
Broken tooth
This tooth needed to look better. We ruled out a crown or veneer, and rebonding the edge was the most conservative treatment. The other teeth have some dramatic characterization so this was a tricky procedure. But, when we finished, the patient was excited about the final result.
After new bonding
And this repaired tooth will look good and last for many years to come….as long he keeps away from wakeboards!!
Repaired tooth
I’ve stated before that I’m a big fan of the Firefox operating system. It feels a little faster that Internet explorer, has a few less bugs, and is still REALLY cool! Having said all that, this article to ’speed up’ Firefox was pretty interesting. I’m going to give it a try….if it doesn’t work I guess I’ll be using something else!
