What Are Inlays and Onlays?

Inlays are used to fill damage within the grooves of a tooth, covering the chewing surface without extending over the cusps (the tooth’s outer edges). Onlays, sometimes called partial crowns, extend over one or more cusps, restoring teeth with more extensive damage. Both inlays and onlays are crafted in our dental lab, ensuring a precise fit and a natural match to your tooth color.

When Are They Recommended?

Our prosthodontists may recommend an inlay or onlay in cases such as:

• Moderate Tooth Decay: Too large for a filling but not needing a full crown.
• Cracks or Fractures: Restores and reinforces the tooth’s structure.
• Replacing Old Fillings: Offers a longer-lasting, stronger alternative.
• Conserving Tooth Structure: Repairs only the damaged portion, preserving more of your natural tooth than crowns.

Key Benefits of Inlays and Onlays

1. Durability and Strength

Our inlays and onlays are made from durable materials like porcelain and composite resin, which can withstand daily biting forces. They are much more durable than traditional fillings, often lasting up to 10 to 30 years with good care.

2. Natural Look and Feel

Inlays and onlays are custom-designed to blend with your tooth color, making them virtually indistinguishable from natural teeth. This makes them ideal for teeth visible when you smile, creating a seamless look.

3. Conserves Healthy Tooth Structure

Unlike crowns, which cover the entire tooth, inlays and onlays replace only the damaged portion, leaving more of your healthy tooth intact. This is crucial for preserving tooth strength and health over time.

4. Enhanced Fit and Comfort

Custom-crafted for a perfect fit, inlays and onlays restore the tooth’s function without discomfort. Their precise fit also prevents food particles and bacteria from getting trapped, lowering the risk of future decay.

5. Less Sensitivity

The materials used in inlays and onlays, porcelain and composite resin, closely resemble natural enamel, making them less likely to react to hot and cold foods than metal fillings. This reduces sensitivity and keeps you comfortable.

The Treatment Process

Receiving an inlay or onlay usually involves two visits. During the first, our prosthodontists will remove any damaged areas and take an impression for the lab. A temporary filling is placed on the tooth, and, in the second visit, the custom inlay or onlay is bonded permanently, ensuring a secure and comfortable fit.

Caring for Inlays and Onlays

Maintaining inlays and onlays involves brushing twice daily, flossing and regular dental checkups. Avoid chewing on hard items like ice or candy to prevent damage, and see our prosthodontists to monitor their condition over time.

Conclusion

Dental inlays and onlays offer a conservative and effective way to restore damaged teeth, combining strength, durability and a natural look. If you are considering this option, talk to our one of our prosthodontists about whether inlays or onlays might be the right solution for achieving a healthier, more radiant smile.

Call to Learn More

Our Denver Restorative Dentistry team in Broomfield, Colorado, encourages you to stay on top of your oral health by scheduling regular check-ups and cleanings and addressing any concerns as soon as they arise. If you would like to know more about how to optimize your smile, please call 303-586-1019 to schedule a consultation with one of our skilled prosthodontists, Drs. Goggins, Aguirre or Chertok.

You may think of dentistry as being mainly functional, and it definitely is that, but for our team it’s also about bringing a touch of artistry to the dental work we perform for you. All of our prosthodontists, Drs. Goggins, Aguirre, Pitz, Poineal and Chertok, are committed to bringing you the functional and aesthetically pleasing smile you desire and deserve. Our cosmetic dentistry options beautifully correct unsightly cosmetic imperfections in your teeth using dental veneers, dental bonding or teeth whitening.

1-Dental Veneers
These custom-crafted wafer thin porcelain or resin shells are bonded onto the front of your teeth. Veneers can beautify a single tooth or your whole mouth! They are ideal for sealing gaps or spaces between teeth, brightening stained or discolored teeth and straightening uneven looking teeth. They can even fix slightly twisted, curved teeth and restore a tooth that has sustained minor damage. We make your veneers in our onsite dental lab with our master technicians for the highest quality and a long-lasting smile.

2-Dental Bonding
If you are having a tooth bonded, we will place a composite resin material right onto the tooth. Our prosthodontist will expertly shape and sculpt the bonded area to fit your tooth and fix any flaws in how it looks. After the resin has hardened we can trim and polish it to perfection, leaving your smile with a long lasting beautiful restoration. This treatment effectively closes tooth gaps and spaces between teeth, corrects a tooth’s shape and color and restores teeth that are chipped or cracked. Not only will your teeth blend in naturally with the rest of your teeth with dental bonding, but we can often perform this treatment in just one comfortable visit to our office.

3-Teeth Whitening
If you have been wanting your teeth to look whiter and brighter our professional teeth whitening treatment might be your best bet! We can effectively lighten stained and discolored teeth that have darkened due to normal aging, lax dental hygiene care, drinking staining drinks (coffee, tea, wine and soda) and foods (berries, tomato-based sauces, soy sauce and curry). Your teeth can also stain dramatically if you use tobacco in any form, and from some medications and illnesses.

Consultation

Whatever cosmetic changes you would like to make in your smile, our prosthodontists are excited to make those for you. To learn more or to schedule your consultation, please call 303-586-1019 today!

Never Ignore a Toothache

A toothache can arise for several reasons including severe infection that has damaged a big area of the tooth and the supportive bone material. Another cause is when tooth decay has ravaged a tooth so much that it can’t be fixed with a dental restoration. Also, our doctors may extract a tooth when there is extensive crowding in the mouth from having too many teeth to fit properly. Don’t worry though, if you have a tooth that needs pulling, our prosthodontists can use sedation dentistry to make sure your tooth extraction is both comfortable and as painless as possible. We understand that your dental experience leaves a lasting impression.

Once one or more teeth are gone, our skilled Denver Restorative Dentistry team can replace missing teeth. We have a variety of tooth replacement choices that we have used to help many satisfied patients smile again with pride by replacing lost teeth with one of our premier dental restorations:

• Dentures
• Bridges
• Implants
• All-on-4® implant-supported dentures
• Full-Mouth Reconstruction
• Fillings
• Crowns
• Inlays and onlays

We are excited to help you do the same for your smile! We can customize a treatment plan for you so that you can once again smile, eat and speak with ease and confidence. No more hiding your smile when you are with others. A healthy looking smile can make an impact on your personal and work relationships and improve your quality of life.

Call Today!

Now is a good time to show your smile some love as your oral health truly impacts many areas of your life. One of our premier  prosthodontists, Drs. Goggins, Aguirre, Pitz, Poineal and Chertok will be happy to meet with you to evaluate your oral health and offer restorative solutions in Broomfield, Colorado. Please call 303-586-1019 today!

One of our specialties is cosmetic dentistry. We know how to correct the flaws in your smile, whether it’s cracked or chipped teeth, unsightly gaps between teeth, stained teeth, misaligned or worn down teeth to improve your smile without sacrificing your tooth and gum health. Our cosmetic dentistry solutions include dental veneers, dental bonding, and teeth whitening – all designed to give you the polished, flawless smile you deserve!

Dental Veneers

These thin porcelain or resin shells are applied to the front of your teeth to correct teeth that are misshapen, chipped or discolored, whether for one or all of your teeth. Dental veneers beautifully close the gaps in your teeth, brighten them, straighten uneven, twisted or curved teeth, as well as fix minor damage teeth.

Dental Bonding

By placing a tooth-colored composite resin material onto a flawed tooth, our experienced prosthodontists can shape and sculpt it to overcome flaws so it looks good again. Once hardened, it is polished and shaped to fit perfectly on the tooth. Bonding is good for closing gaps between teeth, correcting a tooth’s shape, lightening unsightly tooth stains, and restoring teeth damaged by chips or cracks. When finished, your bonded teeth will blend in perfectly with your surrounding teeth!

Teeth Whitening

This treatment expertly whitens and brightens stained or discolored teeth, whether from lax dental hygiene care, aging, consuming staining foods and beverages, tobacco use of any kind, sickness, fluorosis or staining medications. Our prosthodontists will look at your goals to come up with a teeth whitening treatment that works for you and how you want your teeth to appear when it comes to brightness and aesthetic appeal.

Our prosthodontists are skilled cosmetic dental experts and are pleased to customize a smile you have always dreamed of. At Denver Restorative Dentistry in Denver, CO, Dr. Taylor Goggins, Dr. Brian Aguirre and Dr. Anna Pitz are excited to help you achieve a healthy, beautiful self-confident smile!

A dental crowns is highly reliable treatment option designed to cap and conceal a tooth teeth on all sides down to the gum line. Not are crowns customizable to give you the look that you desire, but they are also extremely durable to help protect your teeth for decades to come. In fact, dental crowns can last anywhere from two decades up to an entire lifetime of use.

Dental crowns can support bridges and protect teeth than have had root canals. Furthermore, dental crowns are extremely effective and safe for children that are have had trouble with tooth decay. They can even be used to bind together bits of broken teeth and hold together fillings and teeth when there’s not enough tooth remaining to hold a filling.

If you would like information about dental crown treatments in Broomfield, Colorado, Denver Restorative Dentistry would love to help you. For a thorough examination to determine if dental crowns are right for you, you can set an appointment with Dr. Taylor Goggins by calling our dentist office at 303-586-1019.

If you have not already done so, it is important to visit your dentist for a routine check-up to determine if you’re brushing and flossing techniques are being done effectively. Your dentist will be able to determine if you are accurately cleaning between teeth and using dental floss as intended. If for any reason you are missing any areas between teeth, they will let you know so you can adjust your flossing methods accordingly.

To ensure your smile can function effectively, it is always a good idea to look for products that can easily clean your teeth effectively. Beyond using floss that is shred-resistant, you may want to try an alternate interdental cleaner such as a water flosser. Water flossers use a steady beam of water to rinse out debris and harmful acids between teeth.

When flossing between your teeth, it is important to make sure no teeth are left behind. This means flossing between each and every tooth on all sides of each tooth. Also, don’t forget the back row as they tend to be neglected during flossing sessions. To prevent contamination, always make sure you’re using a new strand of thread each day when flossing.

When flossing between teeth, it is important to use gentle movements that will not easily cut or damage your gums. Go slow so you can accurately clean between each and every tooth. Try to use a strand that is roughly 16 to 20“ in length, so you can move up and down the strand as necessary to accurately clean between each and every tooth and avoid contamination.

Seeking a better smile and better oral health without interdental treatments is a difficult task to comprehend for individuals who seek true oral health superstardom. For more interdental treatments or to schedule an oral exam or professional cleaning with Dr. Taylor Goggins and our team at our dentist office in Broomfield, Colorado, please contact Denver Restorative Dentistry at 303-586-1019.

While you can’t always tell if you have a cracked tooth, if you feel a sharp pain when you bite down on your food which stops when you stop putting pressure on your tooth, your tooth may have a fracture. A tooth can crack for a number of reasons:

• If you chew on hard objects such as ice, hard candy, or hard nuts you can fracture a tooth.
• A blow to the mouth can crack a tooth.
• If tooth enamel is exposed to temperature extremes, your tooth can crack. So if you are eating hot soup, don’t be tempted to sip ice water with it.
• Your teeth can crack if you persistently grind or clench your teeth (also known as bruxism).

To repair a cracked tooth, Dr. Goggins or Dr. Esguerra will first examine the tooth to determine proper treatment. For example, if the tooth has minor cracks, bonding with a tooth-colored composite resin or dental filling may be all that will be required. However, if the damage is severe or affecting the tooth pulp, the tooth may require extraction, requiring a root canal.

If you are suffering from the effects of a cracked tooth, please call us at 303-586-1019 as soon as possible. Until you are seen by Dr. Goggins or Dr. Esguerra, avoid chewing on that side of your mouth, take acetaminophen or over-the-counter pain reliever as needed, and rinse with salt water for relief.  Our Denver Restorative Dentistry team in Broomfield, Colorado, is happy to help you restore your healthy smile!