Colour, Shape or Both?
Begin with what bothers you about your smile, see which treatment answers it and where each one stops, compare the fees in Lanark, and find out how to combine them without paying for anything twice.
Do I Need Whitening, Composite Bonding or Veneers?
It depends on what you want to change. Whitening suits healthy teeth whose only problem is colour. Bonding repairs chips, closes small gaps and evens out edges, usually with little or no drilling. Veneers alter colour and shape at once, and crooked teeth generally need straightening before any of these. At our Lanark practice whitening costs £350, bonding £395 per tooth and porcelain veneers from £695, and your consultation is free.
Start with What You'd Change
Few people arrive asking for a treatment by name. More often they tell us their teeth look yellow in photographs, a front tooth is chipped, or there's a gap that has always bothered them. How you'd describe the problem is the most reliable pointer to the right treatment.
| How you might put it | Our usual starting point |
|---|---|
| "My teeth look a bit yellow" | Home whitening |
| "I've a chipped edge, a little gap or a short tooth" | Composite bonding |
| "A few teeth are the wrong colour and shape" | Composite or porcelain veneers |
| "My teeth are crooked or crowded" | Invisalign, then a fresh look |
| "One tooth has gone darker than the others" | Find out why, then bond or veneer it |
Whitening: Colour and Nothing More
Whitening lightens the enamel and dentine of natural teeth. It can't reshape a tooth, close a space or alter fillings, crowns, bonding or veneers. Ours is Boutique home whitening. After an examination, a dentist prescribes it; trays are produced from a 3D scan of your teeth, and you fill them with professional gel and wear them daily for a fixed period, generally over two to three weeks.
It's £350, or £315 on a dental plan, and it's included in every bonding and Invisalign package. 1 Yellowish teeth respond best; greyish teeth lighten more slowly. Sensitivity is common and short-lived. In the UK, whitening counts as dentistry and must be prescribed by a dentist, and gels over 0.1% hydrogen peroxide can't be used on under-18s except to treat or prevent disease. See our whitening page for more.
Not Sure Which One You Need?
WhatsApp us a photo taken in daylight and one of our dentists will suggest where to begin.
Bonding: New Shape, Enamel Kept
Your dentist builds tooth-coloured composite resin onto the tooth layer by layer, then shapes and polishes it. Usually there's no drilling and no injection, and it's done in one or two appointments. Good candidates include worn or chipped edges, little gaps, teeth that are short or uneven, a single slim tooth among normal-sized ones, and white patches on the enamel.
The fee is £395 a tooth, or £1,550 for the four front teeth with whitening. 1 Expect it to look good for around three to five years before it needs a refresh, and a chipped edge can normally be repaired in one short visit. Examples are on our composite bonding page.
Veneers: Colour and Shape in One
A veneer covers the entire visible surface of a tooth, and there are two types. A composite veneer is built up by hand in the chair, usually with no drilling, and is priced the same as bonding at £395 a tooth. A porcelain veneer is made by a dental laboratory from an iTero scan and costs from £695 a tooth. 1
Porcelain is the closest match to natural enamel, resists staining and commonly lasts 10 to 15 years or more. The trade-off is that a thin layer of enamel usually has to be removed first, and that can't be undone. Plan on three appointments over about a month, including a trial smile. Veneers are worth considering when stain won't shift, one tooth has darkened, the front teeth are mostly filling, or older cosmetic work is past its best. Our veneers page explains more.
The Limits of Whitening
If colour is your only concern, whitening may be all you need. It does have limits. Staining that is grey, striped or patchy is slow to shift and may not lighten evenly. If a front tooth turned dark long after an injury, or following root canal treatment, it might never quite catch up with its neighbours. And fillings, crowns or bonding on front teeth keep their colour, so they can stand out once everything else is lighter.
When whitening is enough, you stop there. When the colour is sorted but you'd still like to change the outline of a tooth, bonding or veneers come next, made in your new, lighter shade. Either way, starting with whitening costs you nothing in the long run.
The Limits of Bonding
Bonding is usually the gentlest way to reshape teeth, but composite can only do so much. Covering a very dark tooth takes a thick layer, and thick bonding looks bulky. Teeth with large fillings offer less sound enamel to bond to. People who grind hard chip composite edges more often than porcelain ones. And a big change across every tooth that you want to last ten years or more usually works better in porcelain.
Crowding is the other limit. Composite can disguise a tooth that's only slightly out of line, but because it adds material, crowded teeth simply end up crowded and bulky. Straightening first often means only a little composite is needed, and occasionally none.
Doing Things in the Right Order
If you need more than one treatment, straighten first, whiten second, and bond or veneer last. Teeth already in position need thinner bonding, or none at all. Whitening goes ahead of any composite or porcelain, since each is colour-matched at the time it's placed and keeps that colour for good. We leave around two weeks between the end of whitening and any shade matching so the colour has settled.
That order underpins every smile makeover. Your dentist designs the result on photographs of your face, you can try a mock-up in your mouth as a trial smile, and neither the design nor the trial is charged separately. Your written plan sets out every step and the gaps between them.
What Each Treatment Costs in Lanark
| What it is | Cost |
|---|---|
| Boutique whitening at home | £350 (£315 on a plan) |
| One tooth: bonding or a composite veneer | £395 |
| Bonding sets of 4 to 10 teeth, with whitening | £1,550 to £3,950 |
| Each porcelain veneer | From £695 |
| Invisalign, including whitening and retainers | From £3,250 |
There's no charge for the consultation for any of them, though we hold a £20 deposit at booking and pay it back within 7 days once you've attended (Invisalign consultations need no deposit). We put your fee in writing before any treatment. 1 Our veneers comparison goes into composite versus porcelain in more depth.
Questions
This guide is general information, not a diagnosis. A dentist needs to examine you to say what is right for your teeth.