If you’re self-conscious about cracked, broken, decayed, or worn teeth, we can bring back your healthy, natural-looking smile with dental crowns, also called caps, inlays, or onlays. A crown can return structure, strength, and function to a tooth with extensive decay or damage. Designed to fit snugly and function as a healthy tooth, a crown will protect your tooth from further damage and preserve the jaw’s correct natural alignment.
Inlays and onlays are a restoration that falls between fillings and crowns. Like a filling, inlays and onlays fit into the cavity of a tooth. However, like a crown, inlays and onlays are solid restorations fabricated in a dental laboratory and held in place with dental cement. When a patient has a large filling that needs repair, an inlay or onlay can reinforce the tooth, thus making it stronger than a filling could. Inlays fit between the cusps (points or bumps) on a tooth's top surface, while onlays fit over a cusp.
We use precious metal, porcelain pressed (or fused) to metal, or all-porcelain crowns, inlays, and onlays. To maintain a fully white smile, we recommend all-ceramic restorations. Our precise color-matching system allows us to find the right shade of porcelain to blend with your natural tooth color. Porcelain crowns, inlays, and onlays are also extremely durable and long lasting, and these benefits make them popular with dentists as well as patients.
Typically, we can design, fit, and place your restoration in just a couple of short appointments. Once a crown, inlay, or onlay is placed, you can care for it as you do your natural teeth. Conscientious brushing twice a day and daily flossing will protect the base of your crown from bacterial growth. Be sure to see us at least two times each year for professional cleanings and a preventive exam, too.