As we all know, dental filling refers to removing eroded tooth tissues and replacing them with filling materials. There are different ways to carry out the procedure, including direct filling and inlay filling. What are the differences between them? 

    Direct filling involves filling tooth cavities directly and then exposing it to specific curing light, followed by small adjustments on the contour and occlusion. The whole procedure takes place inside buccal cavity and will be finished during one visit. On top of its convenience and time-saving features, the procedure is also fairly affordable, costing about several hundred yuan or more than one thousand. Nowadays, it has gained a relatively extensive application.

    While in severe cases where the caries happen on larger areas or specific positions, however, the odds of secondary caries and material falling-out happening after seeking traditional filling procedure are quite high. As a result, you have to seek filling procedure repeatedly. The areas suffering from caries will see expansion and the healthy tooth tissues left decrease. Obviously, it’s bad for your overall dental health. Under such circumstances, it’s inlay filling that will be recommended.

    When it comes to inlay filling, the first step is also the removal of eroded tooth tissues and the shaping of the hole. Later dentists will take an impression to get the precise shape of the defective part. With the data collected, dental technicians are able to produce a custom-made restoration to fill the hole perfectly. The defective tooth and the customized restoration are like two pieces of a whole tooth. After putting them together, it’s supposed to be seamless. Generally the treated tooth is expected to remain working for quite a long period of time. It costs more than ten thousand yuan.

    On one hand, inlay filling can avoid the situation of accidentally leaving small gaps inside tooth which may happen during resin filling procedure. On the other hand, inlays are made of precious metal or porcelain, which are more durable than resin fillings. Besides, it also performs better in restoring the tooth contour. Therefore, more people today prefer to seek inlay filling rather than conduct ordinary resin filling. 

    If porcelain inlay is applied, in particular, the restored tooth will be almost the same as a natural one in color. And porcelain material won’t cast an impact on MRI and any other medical tests as well. So it’s really an ideal choice given that cost is not a problem at all. 

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