Wherever possible, at Hartley Dental, we will use a porcelain onlay as an alternative treatment to a crown. As well as looking good (for the whole of their 18 year lifetime), they preserve more of your tooth tissue than a crown and therefore help your teeth stay healthy for longer. They also involve less drilling!
What is a porcelain onlay?
Described simply, a porcelain onlay is a piece of porcelain that has been cut very precisely to fit the gap or hole in your tooth. The onlay is then glued into place using a special adhesive.
When is an onlay useful?
Porcelain onlays are perfect to use when the hole in your tooth is too large for a filling. They are also a great way of mending chipped teeth.
What makes porcelain onlays so good?
There are still a lot of situations where a crown will be the best course of treatment for your tooth. But for those situations where a porcelain onlay is the best way forwards, there are three major reasons why this is good news for your tooth:
- Compared with fitting a crown (where you have to chop away a lot of healthy tooth in order to put the crown in place) an onlay keeps as much of your healthy tooth tissue alive and intact for as long as possible. An onlay will therefore keep your options open for treatments in later years.
- Porcelain onlays also involve less drilling. This means that side effects and complications are far less likely than when fitting a crown. (One in every seven crowns fitted will lead to root canal work first time round.)
- Porcelain onlays also have good looks on their side. A filling will last for five to seven years, but they can begin to look a bit ropey as they age. In contrast, a porcelain onlay will give you all the benefits of a good filling, but will last for eighteen years or more and look good throughout their entire lifetime.
Porcelain onlays are just one of the fantastic techniques we have available to keep your teeth healthy and transform your smile.
Call us now on 01752 661 361 for a consultation and to find out how we can help.
