Effects of contact damage and residual stress for two kinds of dental restorative layered ceramics, porcelain/alumina and porcelain/zirconia bilayers, were observed with Hertzian and Vickers indentation methods. Indentation stress-strain behavior of each material, strength degradation of the coating material, and crack propagation behavior in the coating layer after Vickers indentation were examined by an optical microscope. As a result, porcelain as coating materials showed the classical brittleness. It was inferred that damage and strength in two bilayer system were dependent on thermal expansion mismatch between the coating material and the substrate, which affected the strength degradation. Residual stress resulting from thermal expansion mismtch was formed in the coating layer, and specially in the case of porcelain/zirconia, residual stress was eliminated as coating thickness decreased.