Adults Have Many Options Today to Get Straighter Teeth

Contemporary dentistry has given rise to a wealth of versatile new techniques. Unfortunately, people often fail to capitalize on the benefits of such techniques through a lack of understanding. If you would like to improve your knowledge of the dental techniques being used today, read on. This article will introduce you to three vital facts about the technique known as dental inlays.

Inlays make damaged teeth look normal again.

Sooner or later, regardless of how principled their dental cleaning habits, everyone is subject to some degree of dental decay. The good news is that, unlike in times past, today one doesn't simply have to accept the negative appearance produced by such decay. Dental inlays offer one of the most effective ways to restore the normal look of a tooth. Inlays are able to conceal and correct damage compared to older techniques such as fillings and crowns.

Inlays fall into the category of indirect fabrication techniques.

Indirect fabrication is one of the principal methods of creating dental prostheses, used to create everything from crowns, to veneers, to inlays. The prosthesis—in this case, an inlay—is made using a mold of the damaged tooth. First, of course, any decay or damage has to be removed completely. Then putty is pressed around the tooth, allowed to harden, and removed, thus providing a template for the inlay. The inlay, created out of either resin or a ceramic substance, is bonded to the tooth using a type of high-strength dental cement.

Inlays can do more than fillings.

Nothing beats a dental filling when it comes to repairing small, inconspicuous cavities. Yet, where more serious forms of damage are concerned, fillings are relatively useless. They are not capable of restoring the shape and appearance of damaged teeth. Inlays, on the other hand, excel at correcting such issues, while doubling as a method for dealing with such unrelated issues as discoloration and excessive gaps between teeth. 

Not only can inlays be used to treat a wider range of decay-related issues, but they are also much more durable than fillings. That's because the resin out of which fillings are made tends to shrink as it cures. Although such shrinkage is quite minor, it may still introduce just enough of a gap to make the filling vulnerable to the large amounts of force generated by chewing. This greatly increases the chances that the filling will come loose later on.

Many inlays are also created out of dental resin. Yet the larger size of an inlay allows it to account for such shrinkage much more effectively. In other words, by increasing the surface area of the bond, an inlay possesses a greater degree of resistance and durability.