Dental Inlays and Onlays are porcelain fillings that are alternatives to crowns. When a tooth is cracked, or an old amalgam filling is leaking or failing, an inlay or onlay is an ideal way to restore the tooth. Dentists used to have to grind teeth down to nubs and place crowns on teeth, but not anymore. At Harsha Hospital we prefer to keep your teeth intact and restore only the unhealthy or unstable parts of your teeth.

Inlays and Onlays are more conservative than crowns for that reason, and they don’t result in that ugly gray line at the gum.

The process is a two-visit procedure. At the first visit we remove the unhealthy part of the tooth, whether that is decay, old mercury fillings, cracks, etc. We then prepare the design of your restoration for the ceramist to follow. Our master ceramist then creates a beautiful porcelain filling to fit your tooth exactly.

Your second visit will follow after a week, and at this appointment we will bond the porcelain inlay or onlay to your tooth. Once your inlay or onlay is bonded in place, your tooth will be stronger than it was before and it will be able to bear up to 75% more chewing force. And, in some cases, your tooth will be just as strong as it was originally – before it was ever decayed or broken.