A tooth bonding procedure and do an in-office teeth bleaching

Today I was able to observe a tooth bonding procedure and do an in-office teeth bleaching. The first patient was a former model and she was quite fun to work with! She came in because she didn’t particularly like the appearance of her maxillary and mandibular anteriors and she also had a number of amalgam fillings with recurrent decay! When she smiled you could instantly notice the asymmetry in her smile was coming from her maxillary anteriors. The mandibular anteriors also were all inclined towards the mesial causing crowding. In the office, Dr.Dorfman did bondings on #10 and #4 because the patient noticed that she had some yellow staining on those teeth. Tooth number 10 had a bevel placed on it so that the B1 composite shade wouldn’t contrast with the actual shade of her teeth. The same shade was used on #4 and the patient was happy with the result of both bondings. The patient also had a number of class 3 restorations as well as a number of other concerns which will be addressed in her next visits. She also had enameloplasty performed on #8 and #11 because #8 was causing trauma to her lips every time she smiled and #11 was out of the occlusal plane and looked like a fang.

The patient has the option of getting invisalign to straighten out her mandibular anteriors and then having a retainer put in to maintain the shape. Even though she has the option of leaving her teeth as they are, most likely she will be paying a lot more attention to them since she noticed that many people who live around her, on Park Avenue, have so much money and don’t fix their teeth and she doesn’t understand why!

H.A., New York University College of Dentistry, Patient 6

Categorised in: Dental Student Experiences

This post was written by Interns