Ask our staff.

Porcelain Dental Inlays and Onlays

Jacksonville, Ponte Vedra Oakleaf, Orange Park

Porcelain dental inlays and onlays are a type of tooth-colored filling. They are exceptionally strong and blend invisibly with your tooth, making them undetectable as fillings. Only you and Dr. Blankenship will know you have one. If you need a filling, as most of us do at some point in our lives, Dr. Blankenship can provide you with a custom porcelain dental inlay or dental onlay.

Understanding dental inlays and onlays

Dental inlays and onlays are known as indirect restorations. They are not created right on the tooth like metal fillings or white composite fillings, which are both direct restorations. Being made of porcelain, they are as hard as the tooth they will fill and must be milled to the right size and shape before they are placed in the mouth.

An inlay is smaller than an onlay and fits within the tooth’s cusps
An onlay is larger and extends over one or more cusps to an outer tooth surface

Since dental inlays and onlays are not constructed directly on the tooth, data must be assembled about the tooth and sent to the dental laboratory or to the CEREC computer to enable them to make your inlay or onlay exactly right. In our case, we do not need to use a dental lab, as we have CEREC technology, giving us our own porcelain lab.

Dental inlays and onlays in one office visit

When a lab is used, you must go for two visits with a waiting period in between while the lab makes your restoration. With CEREC technology, we can make your inlay or onlay here while you wait – about 15 minutes or so.

Any porcelain restoration, whether it is porcelain veneers, a porcelain crown, or a porcelain filling, is made from a small block of dental porcelain chosen to match your teeth closely. Dr. Blankenship takes X-rays, photographs, and measurements and inputs this data into the CEREC system. The CAD-CAM software translates it into a 3-D shape that Dr. Blankenship can manipulate on the monitor. (CAD-CAM stands for Computer-Aided Design and Computer-Aided Manufacturing.)

When Dr. Blankenship has perfected your restoration design, the CEREC system uses that data to create it in porcelain. Then it is bonded to your tooth permanently.

Benefits of dental inlays/onlays

Dental inlays and dental onlays are stable and very strong. They do not expand and contract as metal fillings do, so they will not damage or weaken your teeth. In fact, they make your teeth stronger.

Porcelain looks like real tooth enamel, so your dental inlay or dental onlay will blend in perfectly with your tooth. Porcelain is resistant to staining, so your inlay or onlay will stay beautiful for years to come.

Please see our Before and After Gallery for some of the beautiful results our patients have achieved. If you are a person who feels anxious at the thought of visiting a dentist, we understand that and you can learn more on the Sedation Dentistry page.

You can find out which type of filling is best for you during your complimentary cosmetic consultation in our Ponte Vedra and Oakleaf, Jacksonville, Florida area office. Please contact us today to schedule your appointment.