D2662 — Composite onlay — two surfaces
An onlay is a lab-made or milled restoration that covers one or more cusps of a back tooth. D2662 is the two-surface version.
There are nine codes for onlay and they are not interchangeable. This page covers this one; the onlay guide covers the treatment they all share.
What the number specifies, what it costs, what your plan is likely to do with it, and the named differences between it and the codes around it — in that order.
What D2662 specifies
Extent — two surfaces. Two surfaces puts the margin of the restoration down between the teeth, where it cannot be inspected directly and where recurrent decay is hardest to spot. That is why this size is checked on X-rays rather than by eye.
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 D2662 is only the right code if that is what was actually used.
Counted — per site rather than per tooth. What counts as a single site is the detail that gets argued about on these claims.
The nearby codes and how they differ
D2663 — Composite onlay — three surfaces: It covers three surfaces instead of two surfaces.
D2664 — Composite onlay — four or more surfaces: It covers four or more surfaces instead of two surfaces.
D2644 — Porcelain onlay — four or more surfaces: It covers four or more surfaces instead of two surfaces.
D2643 — Porcelain onlay — three surfaces: It covers three surfaces instead of two surfaces.
D2662 sits in a group of nine codes in total; the remainder are linked at the foot of this page. A plan reads these codes as definitions, not as descriptions. If the notes for the visit do not match D2662 exactly, the claim is assessed as whichever of these the notes do match.
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 |
|---|---|
| D2662 | Composite onlay — two surfaces — this page |
| D2542 | Metallic onlay — two surfaces |
| D2543 | Metallic onlay — three surfaces |
| D2544 | Metallic onlay — four or more surfaces |
| D2642 | Porcelain onlay — two surfaces |
| D2643 | Porcelain onlay — three surfaces |
| D2644 | Porcelain onlay — four or more surfaces |
| D2663 | Composite onlay — three surfaces |
| D2664 | Composite onlay — four or more surfaces |
Questions about D2662
D2662 — what is it?
D2662 is shorthand for composite onlay, two surfaces — the same five characters every practice and every insurer in the country uses for it.
What is the typical fee for D2662?
$1,025–$2,165 covers most of the country. Specialist practices and big-city addresses tend to sit in the upper half.
Does dental insurance cover D2662?
It is generally a covered benefit in the major category, typically 50%. Frequency limits and waiting periods are the usual reasons a claim is refused.
What is the difference between D2662 and D2663?
D2663 is composite onlay, three surfaces: it covers three surfaces instead of two surfaces. The rest of the procedure is the same, which is why the two get substituted for one another on estimates.
Also known as: onlay, partial crown, cusp coverage, indirect restoration, cracked tooth restoration.