Inlays and onlays work very well to restore teeth with too much damage for a filling, but not enough to justify a crown. Typically, used to repair the chewing surfaces of teeth, inlays and onlays are fabricated in a dental laboratory instead of being placed directly in the tooth, as a filling would be. They can be made from a variety of materials, including gold, porcelain, and composites. Unlike crowns, they cover only a small portion of a damaged tooth. An inlay is contained within the cusps (top edges) of the tooth’s surface, while an onlay extends further.