White Crowns and Onlays

A crown or onlay is an esthetic, durable, and predictable way to restore a badly decayed, broken, or otherwise compromised tooth.  Tooth colored ceramic onlays provide a conservative, minimally invasive alternative to crowns. These onlay restorations bond to your remaining tooth making them much stronger while matching the color, form, and function of your original tooth. The advantage of onlays over crowns is conservation of tooth structure.  The advantage of both crowns and onlays over large silver amalgam or white fillings is that the crown or onlay will be a predictably much longer lasting fix for a tooth that is badly broken down.  A tooth that has had 50% or more of its original tooth structure missing is best repaired with a crown or onlay.  Attempting to fix that same tooth with a silver amalgam or white filling is not a good idea.  It will not last nearly as long as a crown or onlay and is only postponing the inevitable fix with a crown or onlay.  At Allen Dental our view is why not fix the tooth right the first time with the best treatment possible (in this case the crown or onlay) if it is an affordable option for the patient?  Not only do you save the money on the price of the large filling, you get the right fix for the tooth now at a lower cost than it would be in the future.