A thorough exam, a real cleaning and a clear plan — twice a year at 1455 Broadway in Hewlett.
A routine dental checkup is the cheapest appointment you will ever have, and the one that prevents the expensive ones. At DNTL SPOT in Hewlett, NY, Dr. Inessa Murdakhayeva and Dr. Regina Murdakhayeva do a genuine examination — not a glance and a cleaning — including gum measurements and an oral cancer screening every time.
Not been in a while? That is more common than you think and nobody here will comment on it. Call (516) 226-9160.
On this page
You get a full exam and real time in the chair, not a fifteen-minute pass.
An itemized estimate with your insurance applied, before treatment starts.
Dr. Inessa and Dr. Regina treat you themselves, start to finish.
A dental checkup should take around forty-five minutes with the cleaning. Here is what is actually being done in that time.
Not paperwork for its own sake. New medications change your saliva flow and therefore your decay risk; pregnancy, diabetes and heart conditions all change what we recommend and how. Bring your current list.
Each surface checked for decay, cracks, wear and failing restorations. Old fillings and crowns get looked at specifically, because they fail at the margins long before you feel anything.
A probe measures the depth of the space between gum and tooth at multiple points. Healthy is one to three millimeters; four and above means pockets that trap bacteria. This step is skipped in a lot of quick checkups and it is how gum disease goes unnoticed for years — it is usually painless until it is advanced.
Tongue, floor of the mouth, cheeks, palate, throat and the lymph nodes in your neck. It takes under two minutes and it is the part of a dental checkup that has nothing to do with teeth. Oral cancer caught early has a dramatically better outcome than oral cancer caught late, and your dentist sees these tissues more often than anyone else.
How your teeth meet, whether there is evidence of grinding, and whether the jaw joint clicks or is tender. Grinding is the quiet cause of a lot of cracked teeth and worn edges.
Decay between teeth and infection at the root tip are invisible to the eye. See below on frequency.
You are shown what we found, on screen, and given a written plan in order of priority if anything needs doing. Nothing gets booked without you understanding why.
Every six months is the familiar advice, and for most people it remains sensible. But it is a default rather than a rule, and the honest answer is that the right interval depends on your risk.
Every three to four months if you have active gum disease, a history of frequent decay, diabetes, dry mouth from medication, or you smoke. Bacteria repopulate periodontal pockets within about three months, which is where that number comes from.
Every six months for most adults with reasonable home care and a stable history.
Every nine to twelve months is defensible for a genuinely low-risk adult: no decay in years, healthy gums, no grinding, good home care, non-smoker.
We will tell you which category you are in and why, rather than putting everyone on the same recall. If you are low risk we would rather say so than book you in unnecessarily.
One thing worth understanding: the point of a dental checkup is not to find problems you already know about. It is to find the ones that have no symptoms yet. Decay does not hurt until it reaches the nerve, gum disease does not hurt until the bone has gone, and oral cancer does not hurt at all in its early stages. By the time something hurts, the cheap options have usually expired.
Been longer than six months?
No lectures. We pick up from wherever you are and get you back on track.
Reasonable questions to ask, and here are straight answers.
Why they are needed. Roughly a third of tooth surfaces are hidden where two teeth touch, and that is exactly where adult decay usually starts. Infection at the root tip and bone loss from gum disease are also invisible without an image. An examination without X-rays is an examination of the parts we can see.
How often. Typically bitewings every twelve to twenty-four months for a low-risk adult, more frequently if you have active decay. A full survey roughly every three to five years. We take them when they will change a decision, not on a fixed schedule regardless.
The dose. Digital sensors use a fraction of the radiation of older film. A set of bitewings is comparable to a day or two of ordinary background radiation, and less than a short flight. We use a lead apron and thyroid collar regardless.
If you are pregnant. Routine images can usually wait. Urgent ones are safe with shielding, and an untreated infection carries more risk than the image does. Tell us either way.
Plaque is soft and you can remove it at home. Within about twenty-four to seventy-two hours it mineralizes into tartar, which is hard, bonded to the tooth, and cannot be brushed off by anyone at any price. It can only be removed with instruments.
Tartar matters because its rough surface is an ideal home for more bacteria, and because it sits at and below the gum line where it drives the inflammation that becomes gum disease. This is the mechanism by which people who brush diligently still lose teeth — brushing was never going to reach it.
A routine cleaning at a dental checkup removes tartar above and just below the gum line and polishes the surfaces. Where pocket depths show established gum disease, a deeper cleaning under the gum is needed instead, sometimes with local anesthetic and usually across two visits. We will explain which you need and what it costs before doing it.
The American Dental Association covers what to expect from a visit if you want a second source.
Between insurance plans right now?
Our membership plan covers three cleanings, two exams and X-rays for $359 a year.
Six months is a long gap, and a dental checkup is a snapshot rather than continuous monitoring. These are the things worth calling about rather than saving for your next visit.
None of these are emergencies in themselves. All of them are cheaper and simpler to deal with now than at your next dental checkup in four months, and several of them are the early stage of something that gets considerably more expensive if it is left.
If something genuinely urgent happens — severe pain, swelling, a broken or knocked-out tooth — do not wait for a scheduled dental checkup at all. See our emergency dentist page and call us.
The recommendation is a first dental checkup by the first birthday, or within six months of the first tooth appearing. That sounds early, and the point is not the teeth — it is that the child learns the chair is an unremarkable place before there is ever a problem to fix.
A first dental checkup is short and mostly a look, a count, and a conversation with you about bottles, cups, brushing and fluoride. From there, a dental checkup every six months, with sealants on the permanent molars when they come through at around six and twelve.
What helps: book a morning appointment, avoid words like hurt, needle and drill even reassuringly, and do not promise it will not hurt — promise that we will tell them what we are doing. Children who get their first dental checkup before anything is wrong are, in our experience, the adults who are not afraid of us later.
A large share of new patients tell us it has been five years, ten years, sometimes longer. The pattern is almost always the same: something was uncomfortable once, the gap grew, and then embarrassment about the gap became its own reason to stay away.
We would like to defuse that. Nobody here is going to lecture you or express surprise, and you will not be pushed into treatment on the day. A first dental checkup after a long absence is an examination, X-rays, and a written plan in priority order, with treatment booked separately when you are ready.
Practical things that help: say you are nervous when you book, so we schedule more time. Ask for the first dental checkup slot of the day. Agree a stop signal before we start. Ask to see the X-rays — knowing the actual size of the problem is usually less frightening than imagining it.
And the thing most people most want to know: the longer the gap, the more likely the plan includes a few fillings and a deeper cleaning. It is rarely as catastrophic as people have convinced themselves, and it never gets cheaper by waiting another year.
Want to know what is covered?
We are in network with fourteen PPO plans and will check your benefits before you come in.
Preventive care is the best-covered part of dental insurance by a wide margin. Most plans cover a dental checkup, routine cleaning and diagnostic X-rays at or close to 100 percent, typically twice a year, often without touching your deductible.
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 verify your benefit before the appointment so you know where you stand. We do not participate in Medicaid or Medicare.
If you have no insurance, our membership plan is built for exactly this: it includes your preventive care for the year and discounts any treatment you need. Full details and financing options are on the financial information page.
Worth saying plainly: two checkups a year cost a fraction of one root canal and crown. Prevention is not just better clinically, it is the cheaper path by a large margin.
DNTL SPOT is owned and run by two sisters, Dr. Inessa Murdakhayeva and Dr. Regina Murdakhayeva. You see an owner-dentist at every dental checkup, not whoever is covering that week.
Ready to book your checkup?
Pick a time online in under a minute, or call and speak to the front desk.
We are at 1455 Broadway in Hewlett. Patients come to us for a routine dental checkup and cleaning from Cedarhurst, Lawrence, Inwood, North Woodmere, Lynbrook, Far Rockaway, East Rockaway, Atlantic Beach, and Valley Stream.
Sunday appointments mean a checkup does not have to cost you a half-day of work, which is usually the real reason these get postponed. Our new patient resources page explains what to bring to a first visit.
Ready when you are
Whether it has been six months or ten years, the appointment looks the same: a proper look, honest findings, and a plan you understand. Check available times online or call the office.
1455 Broadway, Hewlett, NY 11557
(516) 226-9160
Monday & Wednesday 9:00 AM–5:00 PM · Sunday 9:00 AM–3:00 PM
