The Wellness17 September 2026Last reviewed 17 September 2026
Composite bonding costs less and takes one visit. Veneers take two visits and last longer. A 2021 review estimated that 95.5% of veneers were still in place at ten years. A 2015 review found that 24.1% of composite restorations on front teeth had failed. At Dentistry by The Wellness, bonding is from £850 a tooth and veneers from £2,450.
Composite bonding uses a tooth coloured resin, called composite, to change the shape, length or colour of a tooth. Your dentist shapes the composite directly onto your tooth.
At Dentistry by The Wellness, your dentist first matches the composite to the colour of your teeth. They then bond it to the tooth, shape it and polish it. For a single tooth, this takes one appointment of about 60 minutes.
A porcelain veneer is a thin shell of porcelain that covers the front of a tooth. A dental laboratory makes it to fit your tooth.
At your first visit, your dentist takes a digital scan of your teeth, and your veneers are designed from that scan. You wear temporary veneers while the laboratory makes your final ones. At your second visit, your dentist fits them.
Both treatments change how your teeth look when you smile. They differ in cost, in the number of visits and in how long they last.
Alenezi and colleagues published a systematic review in the Journal of Clinical Medicine in 2021. A systematic review collects and combines the results of earlier studies on the same question.
Their review included studies of 6,500 porcelain veneers. It estimated that 95.5% were still in place after ten years.
In this review, a veneer counted as surviving if it was still in place. The review did not measure whether a veneer needed any repair before then.
If a porcelain veneer fails, it needs to be replaced. That means a new scan, new laboratory work and another fitting appointment.
Demarco and colleagues published a systematic review in Dental Materials in 2015. It included 1,821 composite restorations on front teeth. A restoration is any repair or rebuild of a tooth, and composite bonding is one type.
Across the studies in the review, 24.1% of those restorations had failed.
The studies in this review followed patients for different lengths of time. The veneer review reports survival at ten years. So the two figures measure different things, and you can only compare them roughly. Both reviews suggest that porcelain lasts longer than composite.
If composite chips or stains, your dentist can usually repair it in the chair at one visit, without remaking it.
Both reviews report averages across the patients in the studies. Neither figure tells you how long bonding or veneers will last in your own mouth. Your dentist looks at your teeth and your bite, and explains how each option is likely to work for you.
Composite bonding costs from £850 a tooth. The fee includes matching the colour, the bonding and the polishing at the same appointment. It depends on how much of the tooth needs rebuilding.
Composite edge bonding on 8 to 10 teeth costs from £6,500. Edge bonding adds composite to the edges of the teeth that show when you smile. You agree the design with your dentist before any bonding starts, so you know the shape you will get. The bonding takes one appointment of about three hours.
Porcelain veneers cost from £2,450 a tooth. On eight teeth, that starting fee comes to £19,600. On ten teeth, it comes to £24,500.
The veneer fee includes the digital scan and design, the laboratory work, temporary veneers between visits, and the fitting. It depends on how many teeth you have treated and which laboratory makes your veneers.
If you want to change several teeth, or combine more than one treatment, your dentist may suggest a smile makeover. It costs from £25,000.
A smile makeover plans straightening, whitening, and veneers or bonding together as one course of treatment. Your plan can use porcelain on some teeth and composite on others, if that suits your mouth.
Before treatment starts, you receive a written plan, a fixed quote and a digital preview of the result. The plan lists each treatment in order, with its fee. One person coordinates your care from the first appointment to the last.
The right choice depends on your teeth, your bite and what you want to change. You make the choice at a smile assessment, with a dentist who has examined you.
The smile assessment costs from £315 and takes about 45 minutes. Your dentist examines your mouth, takes a digital scan of your upper and lower teeth, and photographs your teeth.
You leave with a written plan that names the material, the number of teeth and the exact fee. If both bonding and veneers would suit you, the plan shows each option with its fee, so you can compare them.
Some people choose bonding because it costs less and takes one visit. Others choose porcelain because the published evidence suggests it lasts longer.
Your plan and its fees are valid for six months, so you have time to decide. Dentists and dental specialists in London carry out your treatment, and your care is booked and coordinated by The Wellness.
To compare both options for your own teeth, book a smile assessment, from £315.
95.5%
of porcelain veneers were estimated to survive ten years, across 6,500 veneers.
Alenezi and colleagues, Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2021
24.1%
of 1,821 anterior composite restorations had failed across the studies reviewed.
Demarco and colleagues, Dental Materials, 2015
Bonding one tooth takes about 60 minutes. Edge bonding on 8 to 10 teeth takes one appointment of about three hours.
Veneers take two visits. At the first, your dentist takes a digital scan. At the second, your dentist fits your veneers. You wear temporary veneers in between.
No. The smile assessment costs from £315, whatever your plan recommends. Your plan and its fees are valid for six months.
No. They come from two published systematic reviews, by Alenezi and colleagues in 2021 and by Demarco and colleagues in 2015. We do not publish outcome figures of our own.