What can you eat after composite bonding?

You can eat immediately

Composite is cured with a light during the appointment, so it is fully hard before you leave the chair. There is no waiting period like there is with some cements. If local anaesthetic was used on a tooth, wait until it has completely worn off before eating, because a numb lip or cheek is easy to bite.

The first 48 hours

The composite is hard but the surface is still settling, and the margin between composite and tooth is at its most absorbent. Keeping colour away for two days pays off for years.

Avoid for 48 hours:

• Coffee, black tea and strong herbal teas
• Red wine
• Cola and dark fizzy drinks
• Tomato sauce, curry, beetroot, soy sauce
• Berries and pomegranate
• Smoking, which stains faster than anything on this list

Perfectly fine straight away: water, milk, white fish, chicken, rice, pasta without tomato, potatoes, cheese, white bread, apples, bananas, yoghurt.

After the first two days

Nothing is permanently banned. Composite picks up colour more readily than enamel, so the rule is simple: enjoy what you like, then rinse with water.

Do not brush straight after coffee, wine or citrus. Acid softens the surface for about twenty minutes; brushing in that window scratches the polish. Rinse with water, wait, then brush.

What genuinely damages bonding

Staining is cosmetic and reversible with a polish. Fracture is not. The things that actually break a bonded edge are mechanical:

• Ice cubes
• Hard nuts and bones
• Crusty bread torn with the front teeth
• Nail biting
• Opening packaging, bottles or hair clips with your teeth
• Night grinding without a guard

Front teeth are rebuilt to look natural, not to work as tools. Bite hard foods with your back teeth or cut them first.

Keeping the shine

Brush twice daily with a soft brush and a low-abrasion toothpaste. Whitening toothpastes with high abrasivity dull composite faster than they clean it. Clean between the teeth every day, because the margin at the gum is where stain starts. Have the bonding polished at your hygiene appointment; it takes a few minutes and restores most of the original lustre.

If something chips

Send a photo or a short video. Most chips are small and can wait until you are next in Istanbul. Composite repairs are free of charge at the clinic; travel and accommodation are not covered. The repair adds material to the chip, so the tooth underneath is not touched.

One more thing about whitening

Composite does not whiten. If you plan to lighten your teeth, whitening is done in the clinic immediately before the bonding in the same visit, so the composite is matched to the lighter shade. Doing it afterwards leaves the natural teeth lighter than the bonding. See teeth whitening or the composite bonding page.