Old Bonding Has Discolored. Can This Be Retouched Up Without Drilling?

In many cases it is possible to repair old bonding without numbing the patient, but slight "drilling" would be necessary.   Your dentist can remove a small portion of the existing bonding making room for the new bonding.  Though this process is many time not invasive, it seems that you may have slight dental anxiety.  You may be a great candidate for oral sedation.  You would take a pill the morning of the appointment (approximately one hour prior to the procedure).  By the time of the scheduled appointment you would be very relaxed and possibly even sleeping.  I think this would be a great option  if you cannot take dental anesthesia.  Good luck.

I understand your concern.  This can be done without getting numb, but you may not get the esthetic results you desire, especially if the current bonding is much darker/yellow and there will be a big discrepancy.  Reason being is that the new layer of composite would probably be extremely thin, and the preexisting bonding may show through.  An opaque composite can be used to help block out the underlying layer, but it may not look as natural.  I would recommend for your dentist to gently and minimally "roughen" up the bonding with a bur on a drill, air abrade the composite with Aluminum Oxide, phosphoric acid etch, good adhesive and finally composite.  I will emphasize doing this in a dry field with no saliva contacting the teeth.  Air abrasion, phosphoric acid, and a good curing light to polymerize the composite are key components to successfully bond composite to composite.  It's worth a try, you have nothing to lose.   Unfortunately no whiteners can be used on bonding, it will not change color.  Hope this helps, good luck!

Hi there,
there is unfortunately no way to effectively whiten composite, as it is not made of the same material as tooth.  If it is in thin layers, then the underlying tooth may whiten slightly, causing the composite to camouflage and blend in, thus appearing whiter, but other than that the colour of composite is what it is.  Staining can be addressed by your dental hygienist with a thorough prophylaxis appointment.  My patients attend regularly to have their composite bonding repolished, to keep them looking nice and shiny and to check that the composite is still performing to the best possible standard.  One option may be to add a further layer of composite over the top if you needed to change the colour.  This could be achieved by preparing the surface layer slightly, either with a drill or with a sandblaster.  After this a special type of resin prepared the old composite, on which a new layer can be added.  This is easier with composite types which have been designed for high aesthetics such as Renamel (Cosmedent) and HFO (Mycerium).  You should most likely seek advice of your dentist who I am sure would be super happy to help you.  There are things that can often be done conservatively and I am sure they will look after you very well.
Hope this helps!
Best,
MJ x