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crown, inlay, onlay?

D

De8934

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 31, 2011
Messages
162
Is an inlay or onlay the same as a crown and which is the best to protect the tooth from fracture once it has been root treated?
 
Hi De8934, an inlay,onlay and crown are all different types of treatment. There is a subtle difference between an inlay and onlay (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inlays_and_onlays) but both are different from a crown (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_(dentistry)).
Crowns and onlays will provide cuspal coverage for root canal treated teeth. More dentists use crowns than onlays. It depends on your dentist as to which he/she thinks is 'the best'.
Hope that helps
 
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Thank you, David. The links have been very helpful. I'm not sure my lower back tooth is being protected by the gold onlay I have on it. It has 2 holes in the surface and I am scared the tooth will break. I get intermittent pain in this tooth and I was wondering if a crown would be better for it. The tooth was fixed about 6 years ago and it creaks like an old floorboard sometimes.
 
Hi De, well; ideally you would not get intermittent pain from the tooth (so I would get that checked out). An onlay should give better protection than a filling. I cant say a crown would be better than an onlay. I prefer crowns to onlays (but as I mentioned that could be down to operator choice).
 
Hi David, thanks for getting back to me. I did get it checked out and nothing can be found wrong with it. How can there be nothing wrong with it if there is some pain and it creaks? I also talked to the dentist about a crown to replace the inlay but the dentist didnt want to do anything to the tooth, only that if it continues to be painful he can take it out. Should I see some one else?

many thanks
 
Hi David, thanks for getting back to me. I did get it checked out and nothing can be found wrong with it. How can there be nothing wrong with it if there is some pain and it creaks? I also talked to the dentist about a crown to replace the inlay but the dentist didnt want to do anything to the tooth, only that if it continues to be painful he can take it out. Should I see some one else?

many thanks
Inlays promote cracks while onlays protect against cracks. If you have a tooth that gives sharp pain only when occluding then you have a crack. The question is if a crown would be adequate treatment or do youalso need a root canal or has the crack become so bad that it is hopeless.
By the way these cracks do not show up in a radiogragh. Sometimes they can be diagnosed with a tooth slooth and may be seen under higher magnification or transillumination.
 
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