Porcelain Inlay / Onlay

Inlays and onlays sit between a filling and a crown in terms of how much of a tooth they restore. When a cavity or fracture is too large to be reliably rebuilt with a direct filling, but the tooth still has enough sound structure that a full crown would be unnecessarily destructive, a laboratory-made inlay or onlay is often the ideal solution. An inlay fits within the contours of the tooth, filling the area between the cusps, while an onlay also covers…

Because they are made from porcelain, inlays and onlays are tooth-coloured and blend with the surrounding enamel, and the material is hard-wearing and resistant to staining. Compared with a large direct filling, a well-fitted ceramic inlay or onlay restores the tooth's original shape and biting surface accurately and is associated with good durability under chewing forces, while conserving more healthy tooth than a crown would require. They are most often…