Esthetic Ceramic Filling

The esthetic inlay and onlay procedure successfully using ceramic and/or processed composites began to be used around the mid-to-late 1980s, shortly after the introduction of ceramic veneers for anterior teeth. Both treatments paralleled advances in adhesive dentistry in general. Stacked, feldspathic porcelain or indirect composite inlays and onlays were also introduced to address some of the deficiencies of direct composites, which at the time, were considerable when applied to posterior teeth. They included high wear, low strength, high shrinkage, and difficult placement, especially in light of dentists’ training in placing metals in posterior teeth, a technique quite different from what is used for direct composites. In addition, laboratory-fabricated ceramic and processed indirect composite yielded improved physical properties, improved contours, predictable ideal proximal contacts, and the potential for better, more appropriately placed functional occlusal contacts.