Bonding in Greenwich
How bonding works, who it suits, what happens at each visit, how long the result holds, what it costs around Greenwich, and when porcelain makes more sense.
What Does Composite Bonding Cost in Greenwich?
Composite bonding at Peninsula Dentists on Greenwich Peninsula is from £375 a tooth. Packages cover four teeth for £1,550, six for £2,350, eight for £3,150 and ten for £3,950, and each one includes home whitening, a review visit and a finishing polish. The composite, matched to your tooth colour, is sculpted by hand onto the enamel to mend chips, close small gaps and reshape short or uneven teeth. Most cases take one or two appointments, usually with no injection and little or no enamel removed, and the result typically lasts three to five years before a refresh. Consultations with Dr Pei Xian Chen are free.
What Composite Bonding Is
Composite bonding reshapes teeth with a tooth-coloured resin. It goes on in fine layers, each a slightly different shade or translucency, and is sculpted by hand before being polished to the same lustre as your enamel. The shape of every tooth is worked out against your face, your lips and the width of your smile, which is what stops it looking like a coating.
Because bonding adds material rather than taking it away, the enamel is left alone or barely touched in most cases. Where a fraction is smoothed, it is to blend the edge of the composite invisibly into the tooth and to give the resin more surface to grip, which helps it last. Dr Pei will explain what your own teeth need before anything starts. For most people, protecting their own enamel is the deciding factor in favour of bonding over porcelain.
Bonding comes in two forms. Edge bonding rebuilds chipped corners and worn biting edges with small additions. Composite veneers cover the whole visible face of a tooth, altering both shape and shade along the smile. The technique and the per-tooth pricing are the same for both.
Problems Bonding Can Solve
Bonding is at its best for small and medium changes. It is usually a sensible choice for:
- Front teeth that are chipped or worn down
- Narrow gaps between teeth
- Edges that are uneven, or teeth that look too short
- A tooth or two shaped differently from the rest
- White or brown marks in the enamel you would like hidden
- Older composite veneers that have discoloured, chipped or always looked artificial
It is a weaker choice where teeth are badly crowded, since aligning them first gives a better result, and for heavy grinders, who tend to chip composite. Any decay or gum disease is dealt with beforehand so the bonding sits on a sound foundation. If you are unsure, one photo taken in daylight is enough for Dr Pei to tell you whether bonding is realistic.
Not Sure Bonding Is Right for You?
Send Dr Pei a daylight photo on WhatsApp for a first opinion.
What Happens, Visit by Visit
- Consultation. Dr Pei takes photographs, checks your shade and talks through the shape you have in mind. You may see a digital preview, and bigger cases can have a trial smile fitted over the teeth. There is no fee for the consultation: a £40 deposit holds the slot and is returned once you have attended, and you leave with the plan and its fixed fee in writing.
- Whitening, if you would like it. Composite never changes colour after it is placed, so any whitening happens first, as a two- to three-week course at home using trays made from an iTero Element scan. The shade then needs about a fortnight to settle. A natural B1 is the most popular choice.
- Bonding. Edge bonding is normally one visit; composite veneers take one or two. Each tooth is isolated so it stays dry, then cleaned and gently prepared, and the composite is built up by hand layer by layer, each one hardened with a curing light, before shaping and polishing. Most people need no injection.
- Review, about two weeks on. We check how your teeth meet and give the bonding its last polish.
Bonding Prices in Greenwich
| Teeth | What it usually covers | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | One chip, worn edge or narrow gap | From £375 |
| 4 | The four upper front teeth | £1,550 |
| 6 | The six teeth on show when you talk | £2,350 |
| 8 | As far as the first premolars | £3,150 |
| 10 | Everything visible in a wide smile | £3,950 |
Every package comes with home whitening, a review visit and a finishing polish. Composite veneers are charged on the same scale.2 Your fee is confirmed in writing at the consultation and stays fixed once treatment begins. Bonding sits outside the dental plan discount.
Treatment from £1,500 can be paid through Chrysalis Finance, subject to status: 0% over 6 or 12 months, or over longer terms at 14.9% APR representative, and a deposit is up to you. The terms are on our finance page, and our bonding packages guide sets out which teeth each package includes.
How Greenwich compares. Among the practices around Greenwich and SE London we checked in October 2026, published bonding prices run from about £180 to £450 a tooth, with most sitting between £300 and £383. Very few say whether whitening, a review or a polish is part of the price, and a lone "from" figure often refers to the smallest possible repair. Our single-tooth fee, from £375, is towards the upper end of that typical band. The packages change the picture. A four-tooth package with whitening costs £1,550; take away the £350 value of the whitening and the bonding works out at £300 a tooth. That puts it at the bottom of the typical local band, with the review and polish included and Dr Pei carrying out every stage.
How Long Bonding Lasts
On average bonding lasts three to five years before it needs freshening up, and plenty of people get longer. The usual culprits that shorten its life are biting on hard things such as pens, fingernails or boiled sweets, clenching or grinding in your sleep, and a lot of staining from coffee, tea, red wine, turmeric or smoking. Composite picks up stain at roughly the rate natural teeth do, and the polish at your hygiene visits removes most of it.
A chipped corner can normally be rebuilt in one short appointment, with no need to redo the whole tooth, which is a real point in composite's favour over porcelain. When a refresh is due, it usually means repolishing or renewing the outer layer rather than starting from scratch. Dr Pei will give you a realistic estimate for your own mouth, since bonding on someone who grinds at night wears very differently from the same work on a careful non-smoker.
Bonding or Porcelain Veneers?
| Feature | Composite bonding | Porcelain veneers |
|---|---|---|
| Preparation | Little or none | Usually a thin layer of enamel |
| Appointments | One or two | Three, trial smile included |
| Usual lifespan | Around 3 to 5 years | Commonly 10 to 15 years or longer |
| Stain | Can discolour over time | Very resistant |
| If it chips | Usually mended in one visit | Usually replaced |
| Fee | From £375 a tooth | From £650 a tooth |
For a gentle, conservative improvement, bonding is normally the first thing to try. Porcelain can be the wiser investment for a lasting change across several teeth, or for masking teeth that are very dark or heavily filled; porcelain veneers at Peninsula are planned by Dr Pei Xian Chen. The porcelain versus composite veneers guide goes deeper into the choice.
Caring for Bonded Teeth
- Brush twice daily with a low-abrasion toothpaste and clean between your teeth once a day. Skip whitening toothpastes, which take the shine off composite
- Keep bonded teeth away from pens, nails, hard sweets and packaging
- Sleep in your retainer or a night guard, to protect the bonding and hold your teeth in place. A custom night guard is from £135
- Keep up your hygiene appointments, where the bonding is repolished
- Swill with water after coffee, tea or red wine
Each of these is covered in more depth, including what to do about a chipped corner, in our guide to caring for bonding.
Bonding on Greenwich Peninsula: Who and Where
Bonding at Peninsula Dentists is carried out by Dr Pei Xian Chen, a general and aesthetic dentist with a postgraduate certificate in advanced aesthetic restorative dentistry. Dr Pei speaks English, Mandarin and Malay and is known for putting nervous patients at ease. You will find us at 26-28 Chandlers Avenue on Greenwich Peninsula, beside Greenwich Millennium Village and about ten minutes' walk from North Greenwich station. Canary Wharf is five minutes away on the Jubilee line, so an appointment fits around a working day, and we're open on Saturdays too.
Bonding cases from our own patients, unretouched and shown with their written consent, are in the smile gallery,3 and Google reviewers rate us 4.8 across 141 reviews. To get started, call 020 8788 6688, book a free consultation online, or WhatsApp a photo to 07515 676150.
Questions
This guide explains the options in general terms. Only an examination can tell you which of them suits your own teeth.