Inlays & Onlays Dental Work in San Antonio, TX

What are dental Inlays/ Onlays?

An onlay is a restoration made to restore only the parts of a tooth and filling that have failed while maintaining the remaining tooth structure that is sound. Onlays have been done for many years, but they have recently been recommended more often. 

Some patients like to think of onlay as creating a puzzle piece that slides into the tooth's parts that have failed. When possible, we like using them because they require less tooth to be involved with the preparation, thus making them more conservative. What are the reasons for dental Onlays? As with crowns, there are many of the same reasons why a tooth might be diagnosed to have an onlay done: