D2393 — Composite filling — three surfaces, posterior
A posterior composite is a bonded tooth-coloured filling in a back tooth. D2393 is the three-surface version.
This is one of four closely related composite restoration, posterior tooth codes. The treatment is explained in full in the composite restoration, posterior tooth guide — this page is about what makes this particular code different.
What follows is the detail behind the number: the conditions the code sets, its typical fee, its usual benefit treatment, and a code-by-code comparison with its closest neighbours.
What D2393 specifies
Extent — three surfaces. Three surfaces usually means the biting surface plus both sides. The tooth is now a shell with two contacts to rebuild and walls that have lost most of their internal support.
Material — tooth-coloured composite resin. Composite is a resin filled with glass particles, placed soft and hardened with a blue curing light in layers. It bonds chemically to enamel and dentine, so the preparation can follow the decay instead of being cut to a retentive shape, and less sound tooth is lost. The trade-offs are technique sensitivity — the tooth has to be dry and isolated for the bond to work — and a shorter working life than amalgam under heavy chewing load, typically seven to twelve years on a back tooth. The material is part of the code rather than a choice made afterwards, so D2393 is only the right code if that is what was actually used.
Tooth — a back tooth, where sealing the margin matters more than appearance.
Counted — per site rather than per tooth. What counts as a single site is the detail that gets argued about on these claims.
Where the line falls between D2393 and the rest
D2392 — Composite filling — two surfaces, posterior: It covers two surfaces instead of three surfaces.
D2394 — Composite filling — 4+ surfaces, posterior: It covers four or more surfaces instead of three surfaces.
D2391 — Composite filling — one surface, posterior: It covers a single surface instead of three surfaces.
Those three codes and D2393 are the whole group — nothing else describes this procedure. The distinction is clinical, not administrative: each of these describes work that was genuinely done differently, and the fee follows the work.
Every code in this group
These codes describe the same broad procedure and differ in one respect each. Each has its own page with its own fee range and coverage notes.
| Code | Procedure |
|---|---|
| D2393 | Composite filling — three surfaces, posterior — this page |
| D2391 | Composite filling — one surface, posterior |
| D2392 | Composite filling — two surfaces, posterior |
| D2394 | Composite filling — 4+ surfaces, posterior |
Questions about D2393
D2393 — what is it?
It is the entry for composite filling, three surfaces, posterior. A practice cannot use it for anything broader than that, which is what makes the code useful to you.
What is the typical fee for D2393?
$240–$560 is the realistic range before benefits. Your own share depends on your plan's percentage, deductible and remaining annual maximum.
Is D2393 a covered benefit?
It is generally a covered benefit in the basic category, 70–80% of the amalgam allowance on many plans. Frequency limits and waiting periods are the usual reasons a claim is refused.
What is the difference between D2393 and D2392?
D2392 is composite filling, two surfaces, posterior: it covers two surfaces instead of three surfaces. Apart from that, the two describe the same treatment — which is why the notes for the visit matter more here than the code itself.
Also known as: white filling, composite filling, posterior composite, molar filling, tooth-coloured filling.