Inlay custom fit fillings are made in a laboratory first, the decay is cleaned from your tooth and then an impression of the tooth is made and sent to the lab, in the interim a temporary filling is used to fill in space and protect your tooth from fracture or further deterioration, it is important that you avoid chewing or applying any stress to the temporary filling as it may be fragile. When the lab receives the impression from your dentist, they will custom make your filling for your tooth, there are several types of materials they can use for the inlay the first type of inlay, is porcelain or ceramic material colored to match your tooth.
In addition, to being aesthetically pleasing the other benefits of porcelain or ceramic inlays are that they are also quite stain resistant and hard. The second type of inlay is made of a metal such as, gold metallic inlays are well known for their durability, the final type of inlay is made of tooth-colored composites, like the porcelain inlays, composites are also very aesthetically pleasing. All three types of inlays are bonded or glued to your teeth with a special cement or glue keep in mind that you should stay away from eating on the site of a newly cemented inlay for at least 24 hours following the filling procedure, it is very common to experience some discomfort, normally at the sight of the anesthetic or at the tooth itself. To alleviate the discomfort it is recommended you take over the counter pain medication if the symptoms persist then you should visit your dentist, sometimes due to a variety of reasons an inlay will become loose. In this case, you should contact your dentist immediately to have it re-cemented, please keep in mind the longevity of a filling depends in large part on your oral hygiene and diet, so be sure to maintain your filling with proper brushing and flossing. If you have any additional questions please consult Dr. Lieu.