I need some honest advice because this whole thing has been messing with me mentally.
About 6 years ago, I had a tiny chip on one of my upper incisors. It was barely noticeable and honestly I should’ve just left it alone. But a few months back I decided to “fix” it with composite bonding.
Big mistake—not just the procedure, but the dentist I chose.
I didn’t know about different dental specializations, so I went to a general dentist (later found out he was a periodontist). First attempt: he did the bonding without touching my enamel. Looked great. But he didn’t adjust my bite properly, and it popped off within a week.
Second time: same thing. I even told him to check the bite. Still came off in a week.
Third time is where things went downhill. Without telling me, he trimmed my adjacent healthy incisor to match the chipped one. I only realized after he showed me. I was honestly shocked. I asked him what he did, but stayed calm and just told him to now fix both teeth with composite so they look even.
After that, the bonding kept chipping again and again. This whole thing actually put me into a pretty bad mental state for a while—because now I had damage on a tooth that was perfectly fine before.
I went back home (Delhi) and saw 4 different dentists:
A couple suggested crowns since bonding kept failing
One suggested veneers (less invasive than crowns but still irreversible)
Now the complication: I also have a small gap in my lower teeth (relapse from old braces). If I get veneers now and later fix my bite with orthodontics, that might mess with the veneers.
So I held off.
Came back to Hyderabad, got bonding done again—this time from a prosthodontist. He actually corrected my bite properly. That bonding lasted about a month, came off once, got it redone, and now it’s been ~2 months and holding.
But:
I still don’t use my incisors for biting at all
I’m constantly anxious it’ll chip again
And I hate that I even touched that tooth in the first place
Current plan:
Orthodontist suggested fixing the lower gap first using removable appliances (since it’s a relapse case). Planning to do that in the next 3–4 months.
After that, I’m considering veneers for a more “permanent” solution—but reading online experiences has made me skeptical.
My question:
Do I just stick with composite bonding and accept that it might need periodic fixes?
Or go for porcelain veneers as a long-term solution despite them being irreversible?
Would really appreciate input—especially from dentists or anyone who’s been through repeated bonding failures.
Also yeah… lesson learned the hard way: research your dentist.