Whiten, Bond or Veneer?
Start with the thing that bothers you, then see which treatment deals with it, where each one runs out, what each costs in Hamilton and how to combine them without paying twice.
Should I Get Whitening, Composite Bonding or Veneers?
Choose by the problem. Whitening is for healthy teeth that are just too yellow. Bonding fixes chips, small gaps and uneven edges with little or no drilling. Veneers change colour and shape together, and crooked teeth usually need straightening first. At our Hamilton practice whitening is £350, bonding £395 a tooth and porcelain veneers from £695, and the consultation is free.
Name the Problem, Find the Treatment
Patients rarely come in asking for a treatment by its proper name. They say their teeth look yellow in photos, or a front tooth has a chip, or there's a gap they've never liked. That description is the best guide to what you need.
| What you'd say | Where we'd usually start |
|---|---|
| "My teeth are a shade too yellow" | Home whitening |
| "There's a chip, a small gap or a short tooth" | Composite bonding |
| "Several teeth are the wrong shape and colour" | Veneers, composite or porcelain |
| "My teeth overlap or stick out" | Invisalign, then reassess |
| "One tooth is darker than the rest" | Check the tooth, then bonding or a veneer on it |
Whitening Changes Colour, Nothing Else
Whitening lightens natural enamel and dentine. It won't alter the shape of a tooth, close a gap or change fillings, crowns, bonding or veneers. At Hamilton we use Boutique home whitening: a dentist examines you and prescribes it, trays are moulded from a 3D scan, and you wear them with professional gel for a set time daily, typically for two or three weeks.
It costs £350, or £315 for plan members, and it's already part of every Invisalign and bonding package. 1 Yellow tones lift best, grey ones more slowly. Some sensitivity is common and passes. UK law treats whitening as dentistry, so it must be prescribed by a dentist, and gels above 0.1% hydrogen peroxide can't be used for anyone under 18 except to treat or prevent disease. Our whitening page has more.
Can't Decide Which You Need?
Send a daylight photo and a dentist will tell you where they'd start.
Bonding Changes Shape, Keeps Your Enamel
Composite resin in your tooth colour is built onto the tooth in layers, then shaped and polished. In most cases nothing is drilled, no injection is needed, and it takes one or two visits. It's good for chipped or worn edges, small gaps, short or uneven teeth, a narrow tooth beside normal ones, and white marks.
It costs £395 a tooth, or £1,550 for the front four including whitening. 1 Plan on it looking good for three to five years, on average, before a refresh, and a chip can usually be patched in one short appointment. Dr Nikhil Sharma does our bonding; cases are on the composite bonding page.
Veneers Change Shape and Colour Together
A veneer covers the whole visible face of a tooth. There are two kinds. A composite veneer is built by hand in the chair, usually without drilling, and costs the same as bonding, £395 a tooth. A porcelain veneer is made by a dental lab from an iTero Lumina scan, and costs from £695 a tooth. 1
Porcelain looks the most like enamel, resists stain well and commonly lasts 10 to 15 years or longer. The trade-off is that porcelain usually means shaving a fine layer off the enamel first, which is permanent. Expect three appointments spread over roughly a month, one of them a trial smile. Veneers make sense when staining won't shift, when one tooth has gone dark, when front teeth are mostly filling, or when previous cosmetic work has had its day. See our veneers page.
Where Whitening Runs Out
For people whose only complaint is colour, whitening is often the whole answer. Its limits are worth knowing, though. Grey, banded or patchy staining lightens slowly and sometimes unevenly. A front tooth that went dark years after an injury, or after root canal treatment, may not catch up with its neighbours. And any fillings, crowns or bonding on your front teeth stay the colour they are, so they can stand out once the rest are lighter.
If whitening sorts it, you're finished. If you'd still like a different shape once the colour is right, bonding or veneers can follow, matched to the new shade. Nothing is lost by whitening first.
Where Bonding Runs Out
Bonding is usually the gentlest way to change shape, but composite has limits. To hide a very dark tooth it has to be thick, and thick bonding looks bulky. Heavily filled teeth have less healthy enamel for it to grip. Heavy grinders chip composite edges more often than porcelain. And a large change across every tooth, meant to last a decade or more, is generally better in porcelain.
Then there's crowding. Composite can hide a tooth that's very slightly out of line, but it adds material, so a crowded mouth just ends up crowded and bulky. Straightening first often means very little composite is needed, sometimes none.
Getting the Order Right
When people need more than one, the sequence is straighten, then whiten, then bond or veneer. Teeth that are already in the right place need thinner bonding, or none. Whitening goes before any composite or porcelain because both are matched to your tooth colour on the day and won't lighten later. Between the last night of whitening and any shade matching, we allow roughly a fortnight so the colour is stable.
That sequence is the basis of a smile makeover. Dr Sharma designs the result on photographs of your face, you can wear a mock-up of it as a trial smile, and neither the design nor the trial smile is charged on top of the treatment. Your written plan lists each step and the gap between them.
Fees at Hamilton Smile Studios
| Treatment | Fee |
|---|---|
| Boutique home whitening | £350 (£315 for members) |
| Bonding or a composite veneer, one tooth | £395 |
| Bonding packages, 4 to 10 teeth, whitening in | £1,550 to £3,950 |
| Porcelain veneer, per tooth | From £695 |
| Invisalign, with whitening and retainers | From £2,500 |
You won't pay for any of these consultations; we take a £40 deposit when you book and return it within 7 days once you've attended. If you're weighing composite against porcelain, our veneers comparison goes further.
Questions
This guide is general information, not a diagnosis. A dentist needs to examine you to say what is right for your teeth.