INLAYS AND ONLAYS
Inlays and onlays, are highly aesthetic ceramic/porcelain restorations and last much longer than composite restorations, since it is made from a ceramic material, and are almost as strong as natural teeth. It is either fabricated by a dental laboratory or as in our practice, using in-office cad/cam equipment, called cerec. Inlays are especially useful to restore teeth where large fillings would’ve been necessary, and is a good way to build up natural contacts between teeth.
Onlays are useful to restore teeth where an entire cusp of a molar was lost, and a composite filling would simply show too much wear and simply break again in the long-term.
Inlays and onlays are simply just the best long-term filling if you are looking at quality, durability, function and aesthetics all in one! It will almost be like your tooth was never broken! And at our practice, with help of state of the art CAD/CAM technology like CEREC, you get all this, with the comfort of only one appointment!
Before
After
THE BENEFITS OF USING INLAYS AND ONLAYS:
- Inlays/onlays will not discolour over time, like composite restorations.
- Less tooth material is removed when preparing the tooth for an inlay/onlay, meaning that the inlay/only strengthen the tooth’s structure, where composites weaken it since in the case of composite fillings more tooth structure is removed.
- Their colour is similar to that of the tooth and the anatomy of the tooth can be mimicked so the tooth is restored to look as good as new
- The last longer since porcelain is much stronger than composite
- They fit better since they are custom made, and there is zero shrinkage that can cause leakage on the margins of the restoration
