page_title: Dental material
section_title: Indirect restorative materials
hierarchical_section_title: Dental material / Restorative materials / Indirect restorative materials
caption_attribution_description: English: Inlay made of IPS e.max Press العربية: الحشوات الضمنية المصنعة من البورسلين
context_page_description: Dental products are specially fabricated materials, designed for use in dentistry. There are many different types of dental products, and their characteristics vary according to their intended purpose.
context_section_description: Indirect restorations are ones where the tooth or teeth to receive the restoration are first prepared, then a dental impression is taken and sent to a dental technician who fabricates the restoration according to the dentist's prescription.
  Porcelain fillings are hard, but can cause wear on opposing teeth.  They are brittle and are not always recommended for molar fillings.  They are hard and rigid thus able to resist abrasion forces, are brittle due to surface irregularities, porosities, tendency to undergo static fatigue, and is good aesthetically as it mimics appearance of natural teeth due to various levels of shades.  Porcelain materials can be strengthened by soaking fired material in molten salt to allow exchange of sodium and potassium ions on the surface as this successfully create compressive stresses on the outer layer, by controlling cooling after firing, and by the use of pure alumina inserts, a core of alumina or alumina powder, as they act as crack stoppers and are highly compatible to porcelain.
  Tooth colored dental composite materials are either used as direct filling or as construction material of an indirect inlay. It is usually cured by light.
  Nano-ceramic particles embedded in a resin matrix, are less brittle and therefore less likely to crack, or chip, than all-ceramic indirect fillings; they absorb the shock of chewing more like natural teeth, and more like resin or gold fillings, than do ceramic fillings; and at the same time more resistant to wear than all-resin indirect fillings. These are available in blocks for use with CAD-CAM systems.
  Gold fillings have excellent durability, wear well, and do not cause excessive wear to the opposing teeth, but they do conduct heat and cold, which can be irritating.  There are two categories of gold fillings, cast gold fillings (gold inlays and onlays) made with 14 or 18 kt gold, and gold foil made with pure 24 kt gold that is burnished layer by layer. For years, they have been considered the benchmark of restorative dental materials.  Recent advances in dental porcelains and consumer focus on aesthetic results have caused demand for gold fillings to drop in favor of advanced composites and porcelain veneers and crowns.  Gold fillings are sometimes quite expensive; yet, they do last a very long time—which can mean gold restorations are less costly and painful in the long run.  It is not uncommon for a gold crown to last 30 years.
caption: A fabricated indirect restoration (inlay) made of porcelain
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