Inlays & Onlays

At River Lawn Dental & Implant Centre we make use of the very latest technology which allows us to design and provide tooth-coloured ceramic fillings (inlays/onlays) and crowns to fit precisely to your teeth.

Using the latest dental technology and the skills of a dental technician, with this reconstruction technique we can protect and preserve your tooth’s structural integrity – you can usually retain more of your original tooth than with a conventional crown. The bonded porcelain restoration is extremely strong and promises a long life for your tooth. An added advantage of this technique for a full crown is that it produces a strong ceramic internal core, avoiding the unsightly dark edge which can sometimes show at the gum edge of a crown which has the traditional metal core.

How it works

The procedure makes use of Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacture (CAD/CAM). You will require two appointments with your dentist, the first to precisely shape the tooth and to instruct the technician on the design of the restoration, and the second shorter appointment to fit it. This is how we do it.

At your first appointment we shape the tooth, removing old fillings, any decay and weak enamel. We then take an impression of the tooth and send this to our technical specialists who take an optical 3D image which gets transferred to the computer. We will fit a temporary filling or crown in order to protect the tooth whilst our technicians craft the restoration, and to keep everything functional and comfortable.

Using the image data, the technician designs the restoration digitally on screen and sends this electronically to the manufacturing facility where diamond-coated instruments are used to precision-cut a ceramic block to reproduce the design. Our technician completes this “unfinished restoration” by providing the cosmetic artistry and a highly polished finish. The crown or filling is then ready to be fitted.

At your second appointment we remove the temporary restoration and fit the custom-made one, bonding it to your tooth with a strong light-cured bonding material. We then carefully check your bite, and make any necessary adjustments to ensure that the reconstruction is comfortable and your bite is restored.