Rebuild a broken tooth or fill a gap — fitted, matched and checked at 1455 Broadway in Hewlett.
A dental crown rebuilds a tooth that is too damaged for a filling, and a bridge replaces a tooth that is already gone. At DNTL SPOT in Hewlett, NY, Dr. Inessa Murdakhayeva and Dr. Regina Murdakhayeva plan both with digital scans instead of impression putty, and you see the shade and shape agreed before anything is cemented.
Cracked a tooth, or lost a crown? Call (516) 226-9160. We keep time open for urgent cases.
On this page
Cracked and broken teeth get seen quickly, not booked out three weeks.
An itemized estimate with your insurance applied, before treatment starts.
Dr. Inessa and Dr. Regina treat you themselves, start to finish.
A dental crown is a cap that covers the whole visible part of a tooth, restoring its shape, strength, and appearance. Think of a filling as patching a hole and a dental crown as re-roofing the building. Once a tooth has lost enough structure, a filling has nothing solid to hold onto and will eventually fail or split the tooth; a crown wraps the remaining tooth and holds it together.
The American Dental Association describes a crown as a way to protect a weak tooth, restore a broken one, or cover a tooth that has had a large filling or root canal. That last case is the most common one we see: a molar that has been through endodontic treatment becomes brittle and needs a dental crown to stop it fracturing under chewing force.
Not every damaged tooth needs one. If a conservative filling or an onlay will do the job, that is what we will recommend, because keeping more of your own tooth is always the better outcome.
Tooth cracked, or a filling let go?
Get it looked at this week, before it turns into something bigger.
A bridge replaces one or more missing teeth by joining a replacement tooth to dental crowns on the teeth either side of the gap. The whole unit is cemented in place, so it is fixed rather than removable.
The trade-off is real and we will not gloss over it: the supporting teeth have to be reduced to accept the crowns, which is a permanent change to teeth that may be perfectly healthy. Where those neighboring teeth already need dental crowns anyway, a bridge is efficient and sensible. Where they are untouched, an implant restoration usually leaves you better off, because it replaces the tooth without involving its neighbors. The ADA overview of bridges covers the same ground.
Bridges typically last around ten to fifteen years. The most common reason one fails is decay starting at the margin of a supporting crown, which is a cleaning problem more than a materials problem.
Not sure whether a bridge, an implant or a partial denture fits your gap? See our side-by-side guide to missing tooth solutions in Hewlett.
Material choice is a genuine decision, not an upsell, and it depends on where the tooth sits and how hard you chew.
We talk this through with the tooth on screen in front of you. If you grind at night, that changes the recommendation, and it also means a nightguard should be part of the plan.
A full dental crown removes a significant amount of tooth structure, and there is a middle ground that often gets skipped. An inlay or onlay is a laboratory-made restoration that replaces only the damaged part — a cusp, or the biting surface — and bonds to the sound tooth that remains.
Onlays suit a tooth that has lost one cusp but still has strong walls elsewhere. They preserve more enamel than a dental crown does, and because bonded ceramic reinforces the tooth rather than simply covering it, the long-term result on the right tooth is excellent. The catch is that they are more technique-sensitive and they are not the answer where the tooth is already heavily undermined.
We assess this case by case. Roughly, if two or more cusps are gone or the tooth has had a root canal, a dental crown is the safer choice. If one cusp has fractured off an otherwise solid molar, an onlay is often better dentistry. Either way you get the reasoning, not just the recommendation.
The same logic applies in reverse. Where a tooth has been patched repeatedly with ever-larger composite fillings, continuing down that road is usually false economy — each repair removes a little more sound tooth, and the eventual fracture often takes the tooth below the gum line where nothing can be done.
Not sure a crown is what you need?
We will tell you when a filling or an onlay will do the job instead.
We assess how much healthy tooth remains, take an X-ray to check the root and surrounding bone, and confirm a dental crown is the right choice rather than a filling or an extraction. You see the images with us.
Under local anesthetic, decay and failing filling material are removed and the tooth is shaped so the crown fits over it with even thickness. If too little tooth remains to hold a crown, we build it up first with a core.
An intraoral scanner records the prepared tooth, the opposing teeth, and your bite. No impression tray, no gagging, and a more accurate record than putty gives.
We match the shade to your neighboring teeth in natural light, with photographs sent to the laboratory. For front teeth this is the step that decides whether the result looks like a dental crown or like your tooth.
You leave with a temporary that protects the tooth and lets you eat and smile normally while the permanent one is made.
At the second visit we try the crown in, check the fit at the gum margin, check the contact with the neighboring teeth, and adjust the bite until it feels right to you. Only then is it cemented. If something looks wrong to you at the try-in, say so — it is far easier to send it back than to change it afterwards.
Two appointments, usually two to three weeks apart.
Sometimes the honest answer is that a dental crown will not work. There are three situations where we will say so.
In those cases we talk through extraction and what comes after it, whether that is an implant, a bridge, or leaving the space. We would rather tell you a tooth is not savable than take payment for a dental crown that fails in eighteen months.
Want the cost before you commit?
An itemized estimate with your insurance applied, before any tooth is prepared.
Cost depends on the material and on whether the tooth needs a build-up or a post first. A bridge is priced by the number of units it spans, so a three-unit bridge costs roughly what three crowns cost.
Most dental plans treat a dental crown as a major restorative procedure and cover somewhere around half once the deductible is met, subject to your annual maximum. We are in network with fourteen PPOs — Aetna, AlwaysCare, Ameritas, Anthem, Cigna, Delta Dental, GEHA, Guardian, Humana, Lincoln Financial, MetLife, Principal, United Concordia, and United Healthcare — and we submit a pre-treatment estimate so the number you get comes from your insurer rather than from us guessing. We do not participate in Medicaid or Medicare.
Two practical notes. Plans often apply a waiting period to major work, so it is worth checking before you assume you are covered. And where a case spans two calendar years, staging it can let you use two annual maximums. Our membership plan discounts treatment for uninsured patients, and financing options are on the financial information page.
A well-made crown on a well-cared-for tooth commonly lasts fifteen years or more. What shortens that is almost always one of three things.
Tell us if the crown feels high when you bite, if the gum around it bleeds, or if you get sensitivity to cold weeks after fitting. Each of those is fixable and much easier to address early.
DNTL SPOT is owned and run by two sisters, Dr. Inessa Murdakhayeva and Dr. Regina Murdakhayeva. The dentist who prepares your tooth is the dentist who fits the crown and sees you at every recall afterwards.
Ready to get it rebuilt?
Pick a time online in under a minute, or call and speak to the front desk.
Our office is at 1455 Broadway in Hewlett, with free parking directly outside. Patients come to us for dental crown and bridge work from Cedarhurst, Lawrence, Inwood, North Woodmere, Lynbrook, Far Rockaway, East Rockaway, Atlantic Beach, and Valley Stream.
Because crown treatment takes two visits, Sunday appointments make it easier to finish without taking time off work. New to the practice? Our new patient resources page explains what to bring to a first visit.
Ready when you are
If a tooth is cracked, sensitive, or has lost a filling, it is easier to save the more of it that is left. Check available times online or call and speak to the front desk.
1455 Broadway, Hewlett, NY 11557
(516) 226-9160
Monday & Wednesday 9:00 AM–5:00 PM · Sunday 9:00 AM–3:00 PM
