Dental Inlays & Onlays Explained by Richmond Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Graham Forbes

Inlays and onlays can be a conservative alternative to crowns. Dr. Graham Forbes of Capital Dental Design in Richmond explains when you want inlay or an onlay. For more info see https://capitaldentaldesign.com/porce...

Welcome to one of our explanation videos: What are dental inlays and onlays? What is the dental onlay procedure? What is a dental onlay vs a filling?
Let's clear up the confusion.

A dental inlay or onlay is a porcelain filling. But why do we need them?
If a tooth is breaking down, maybe an old filling or a big cavity, we can fix it with one of three things:
1. A dental crown (see our crown explanation)    • Porcelain Crowns Explained by Richmon...  
Crowns are for teeth that are weak and at risk of breaking down completely.

2. A filling. These used to be "silver" but a usually tooth colored today and are actually plastic.
These are great when a tooth has a small filling or cavity that needs to be removed and replaced but the tooth is sound.

3. An inlay or onlay is a porclain (or gold!) filling that is strong enough to function well but allows us to preserve good tooth structure. Inlays and onlays usually last longer than porcelain fillings and are more conservative than full crowns.

Modern bonding technology allows us to bond porcelain to teeth. We can be conservative, strong, and esthetic with inlays and onlays! We do way fewer crowns today than we used to because of these things!

Give us a call at (804) 320-8894 to set up an appointment.
If you're visiting us from out of town we can recommend lots of great places to stay and visit!