Inlays

Inlays and onlays are in simple terms, fillings that are constructed outside of the mouth by a dental technician under the prescription of your dentist.

Regular fillings rely on tooth structure to hold the filling in place. Once a restoration reaches a certain size, the support provided by the remaining natural tooth is not sufficient to hold a filling in place, and this is where inlays and onlays come in.

They are prepared and constructed in one of our partner laboratories, in much the same way as a crown would be, the only difference being that where a crown covers the whole tooth, an inlay sits within, and on, the remaining tooth structure, and is held in place by special cement.

Inlays and onlays are usually made entirely from an extremely strong ceramic and are colour matched to your existing teeth and are virtually impossible to see, however, just occasionally, they can still be constructed from a high gold containing alloy.