| Service | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | 🇨🇿 Czech Republic | 🇹🇷 Turkey |
|---|---|---|---|
| Premium zirconia crown | from USD 282 | from USD 298 | from USD 225 |
| Ceramic crown | from USD 280 | from USD 476 | from USD 300 |
| Prosthodontist consultation | from USD 8 | — | — |
Prices in the “Ukraine” column come from MediUkraine’s partner clinics. The Czech Republic and Turkey columns show the lower bounds of prices published by clinics there (for Turkey, also the Turkish Dental Association’s recommended 2026 tariff), collected in August 2026 and converted to US dollars at the rate on the day of collection. A dash means we could not find a comparable published price. In any country, the final cost is set by the clinic after an examination.
A crown is a prosthesis that completely covers the visible part of a tooth and takes on the chewing load. It is made from zirconia or from a glass ceramic based on lithium disilicate. Neither material contains metal, so neither produces the dark line at the gum that a porcelain-fused-to-metal framework develops over the years.
A crown is considered when a filling can no longer bear the load: most of the crown of the tooth has been destroyed, there is a crack, the walls have been thinned after root canal treatment, or there is marked wear of the enamel. It is also needed as a support for a bridge and as the final part of a restoration on an implant.
Not every damaged tooth has to be ground down all the way round. If the walls are intact and the defect covers the biting surface and one or two cusps, the tooth is covered with a ceramic onlay. It reproduces the shape of the lost part and requires grinding mainly where tissue is already missing, whereas for a crown the tooth is reduced on all sides. Other things being equal, an onlay is gentler on the tooth, and it is the option to raise with your dentist first.
There are situations where a crown is not indicated. If too little hard tissue is left above the gum, the restoration has nothing to hold on to: first a post and core or a post is needed, and sometimes the tooth cannot be restored at all. Prosthetic work is postponed in the presence of active caries, gum inflammation, untreated apical periodontitis or marked tooth mobility: first the mouth is brought to health, then comes the prosthetic stage.
MediUkraine is a treatment search and coordination service, not a clinic. We find the clinic and the prosthodontist, arrange the visit dates and support you throughout, including if you are travelling from abroad. The decision on what to do with a particular tooth is made by the dentist after an examination and an X-ray.
Travel. Ukrainian airspace is closed, so there are no commercial flights. Patients reach Lviv overland, most often from Poland: Rzeszów and Kraków airports are the usual entry points, with a train, bus or private transfer onward to the border and on to the city. Lviv is roughly 70 km from the Polish border, the shortest crossing of any Ukrainian city.
Visas. Citizens of the EU, the United Kingdom and the United States do not need a visa for short stays in Ukraine. Rules depend on your citizenship, so check your own before booking.
Safety, plainly. Ukraine is at war. Air raid alerts occur in Lviv, and an appointment can be interrupted by one. Several governments advise against travel to Ukraine, and while that advice stands, ordinary travel and medical insurance is often void — confirm your cover with your insurer before you commit to anything.
Language. MediUkraine handles correspondence, scheduling, the written treatment plan and the quote in English. The clinic's team communicates with international patients in English.
Payment. You pay the clinic directly. Our coordination service is free of charge for you.
More on travel, safety and insurance: Safety and travel.
Zirconia withstands greater loads than other metal-free materials. Classic 3Y-TZP has a flexural strength of around 1,000–1,200 MPa, so it is used on back teeth, on long-span bridges and where the patient clenches hard. The trade-off is lower translucency: this kind of zirconia looks dense and in the smile zone can appear lifeless.
The more translucent generations of zirconia, 4Y and 5Y, contain more cubic phase and let more light through, but their strength falls to roughly 550–800 MPa. Another option is a framework of strong zirconia with layered veneering ceramic: the technician gains more scope with shades, but the veneering itself chips more often than a monolithic restoration. Multilayer blocks with a colour gradient offer a compromise: a denser base at the neck of the tooth and a more translucent incisal edge.
Lithium disilicate is a glass ceramic with a strength of around 400 MPa. Optically it is the closest to natural enamel, so it is chosen more often in the smile zone. A crown of this kind works best with adhesive cementation: the composite cement and the tooth tissue become a single unit with it, which makes up for the material's lower inherent strength. The wall thickness must be no less than 1–1.5 mm, otherwise the restoration cracks.
Hence the rule of thumb: back teeth, zirconia; smile zone, lithium disilicate or zirconia with layered ceramic. The second factor is the colour of the prepared tooth. If what lies under the restoration is a darkened root-filled tooth, a metal post or a titanium abutment, a translucent material will let that greyness show through, and an opaque framework is then needed. On a vital, light-coloured tooth, by contrast, translucency works in favour of a natural look.
Onlays deserve a separate look. An inlay fills a cavity between the cusps, an onlay covers one or several cusps, and an overlay the entire biting surface. All of them preserve the walls of the tooth, whereas for a crown enamel and dentine are removed all the way round to a depth of 1–2 mm. If the tooth is vital and its walls are not cracked and are thick enough, an onlay is usually the better choice: the more of its own tissue a tooth keeps, the better for its longevity. When the walls are thin or the tooth is root-filled and prone to fracture, covering the entire crown of the tooth is more reliable.
A porcelain-fused-to-metal crown is still a workable option, above all on price, but it has two known limitations: a dark margin that is exposed when the gum recedes, and chipping of the veneering layer. A temporary plastic crown is not an alternative but a mandatory stage: it covers the prepared tooth, keeps the gum in shape and shows whether the bite is comfortable before the final cementation.
Digital fabrication works like this: an intraoral scanner captures the prepared tooth and the neighbouring areas, the technician designs the restoration in software, a machine mills it from a block, and then zirconia is sintered at around 1,450 degrees Celsius while lithium disilicate is crystallised in a furnace. Ceramic can also be pressed from a wax model, an older method but one that gives good marginal accuracy. A conventional silicone impression remains the fallback when scanning is difficult.
Cementation depends on the material and is not a formality. Lithium disilicate is etched with hydrofluoric acid, treated with silane and seated with composite cement in a dry field: without isolation from saliva the bond will not work. Zirconia is sandblasted, primed with a phosphate monomer primer and cemented with adhesive or glass ionomer cement. That is why the cementation visit is no shorter than the preparation: the stage takes time and care. On an implant a crown is often secured with a screw through an access hole in the biting surface: such a restoration can be removed and put back without damage, whereas a cemented one has to be cut off.
How long the work lasts depends on more than the material. Studies show that most zirconia and lithium disilicate crowns function for more than ten years, and the main reasons for replacement are not breakage of the restoration but secondary caries at the margin, loss of cementation and problems with the root underneath. Only a dentist can forecast the lifespan for a particular patient after an examination: hygiene, the bite, bruxism and the amount of tooth tissue preserved count for more than the name of the material.
The method has clear limits. A crown does not cure a tooth but protects it and restores its shape: underneath remains living tissue that can become inflamed, or a filled canal that may make itself felt years later. It does not correct the position of the teeth, which is the task of orthodontics, and an attempt to straighten a row of teeth with crowns costs the patient healthy tissue. Where several teeth are damaged at once, a comprehensive plan is discussed rather than one unit at a time.
For the first few days after preparation a vital tooth may react to cold and to pressure: this is an expected reaction of exposed dentine, which usually fades within one to two weeks. The temporary crown needs care: do not chew anything hard or sticky on it, and when flossing next to it pull the floss out sideways rather than upwards so as not to dislodge it.
After the final cementation, do not eat for the first two hours, and avoid hard food for a day while the cement reaches full strength. Slight sensitivity in the first few days can occur here too. If it increases, however, or pain appears when biting, that is a reason to come in for a check rather than wait.
The bite is checked in the chair straight away, but it is only fully felt after a few days. If the crown gets in the way when the teeth close, the tooth aches or discomfort appears in the jaw joint, an adjustment with articulating paper is needed. It is a short procedure and should not be put off: an overloaded tooth loosens faster.
The gums around the restoration settle into shape within two to four weeks. Slight bleeding in the first few days after the impression and cementation does happen, but persistent inflammation, swelling or an unpleasant smell are no longer normal and need an examination. The final aesthetic result can only be judged once the gums have healed and the contour has stabilised.
A check-up is usually scheduled after one to two weeks, and then every six months together with professional hygiene. At these visits the dentist checks the crown margin, the condition of the gums and the occlusion, and takes an X-ray if indicated. A root-filled tooth under a crown can develop inflammation at the root tip without pain, and this can only be seen on an X-ray.
The tooth under a crown remains alive and can become diseased. Caries begins at the junction between the restoration and the tooth's own tissue, so daily cleaning between the teeth is more important than it seems: a toothbrush does not reach there. For patients from abroad, MediUkraine passes on the X-rays, the product passport and the treatment record so that check-ups can be done at home.
Step 1. Examination, X-ray and plan. The dentist assesses how much hard tissue is left, whether the tooth is vital, and what condition the canals and the bone around the root are in. This is where the main decision is made: whether an onlay will be enough, whether a crown is needed, or whether the canals must first be treated and a post and core placed. You see the X-ray and receive a quote broken down by stage.
Step 2. Preparing the tooth. The old filling or crown is removed, the affected tissue is cleared away, and the canals are treated if indicated. If there is too little wall left, the tooth is rebuilt with a post and core or a post with composite, which is a separate visit. Without this stage the restoration has nothing to hold on to, and all the later steps lose their point.
In total, restoring one tooth takes two to three visits of 40–60 minutes. Between preparation and cementation there are 1–2 weeks: during this time the tooth is covered by a temporary crown, the laboratory makes the restoration, and at the try-in the dentist checks the shade, contacts and bite. Anaesthesia is needed only at the reduction stage, no hospital admission is required at all, and after each visit you can return to your usual routine.
The cycle begins with diagnosis and ends not with cementation but with a check-up. Between first contact and the finished restoration there are usually two weeks to a month and a half, depending on whether root canal treatment is needed and how many teeth are in the plan.
The shorter scenario is a vital tooth without complications: consultation, preparation, cementation 1–2 weeks later. If endodontic treatment is needed, one or two visits are added along with a pause for observation: after the canals are filled, the prosthetic stage is sometimes deliberately postponed for a few weeks to make sure the tooth has settled.
Part of the work can be moved outside the trip. A consultation based on existing X-rays is held remotely, the plan and quote are agreed in advance, and only the clinical stages remain for the visit itself. That way, a patient from abroad comes not for a first look but for specific procedures with a known list and duration.
After cementation the cycle moves into monitoring: a check-up after one to two weeks, then every six months with professional hygiene and a check of the bite. Every few years an X-ray is taken of the teeth under crowns, root-filled ones above all, because inflammation at the root can persist for a long time without symptoms.
At some point the restoration will need replacing, and that is a normal part of the cycle rather than the result of a mistake. The reasons are secondary caries at the margin, a chip, gum recession exposing the margin, or a change in the situation with the neighbouring teeth. The better the hygiene and the more evenly the load is distributed, the longer the interval between restorations.
The most common complication after crowning a vital tooth is inflammation of the pulp. Preparation is traumatic for the tissues: some teeth react with persistent sensitivity, and a small percentage later need root canal treatment under the finished crown. That is why the dentist checks the vitality of the pulp before starting and works with cooling and pauses during the reduction.
Mechanical complications are chipping of the ceramic, cracks and loss of cementation. A veneering layer on a framework chips more often than a monolithic restoration, and the main risk factor is bruxism and the habit of clenching the jaws. In such cases a stronger material is chosen and a protective night guard is made: without it the risk recurs with the new restoration too.
Biological complications develop slowly and quietly. Secondary caries begins at the junction of crown and tooth, where plaque collects; gum recession exposes the margin of the restoration over the years; a root-filled tooth can develop inflammation at the root tip without pain. That is why an examination every six months and an X-ray when indicated are not a formality.
Contraindications are mostly temporary. Prosthetic work is postponed in the presence of active caries, inflammation of the gums and periodontium, untreated apical periodontitis or poor hygiene. Permanent limitations concern teeth with marked mobility and those with almost no hard tissue left above the gum: first it is decided whether such a tooth can be saved, and only then is a crown discussed.
General health is discussed separately. Pregnancy, blood clotting disorders, taking anticoagulants or bisphosphonates, and allergy to anaesthetics or latex should be mentioned to the dentist before work begins. Planned prosthetic stages are usually postponed during pregnancy, with treatment limited to emergency care.
The patient has the right to a second opinion. The X-rays, the treatment plan and the quote stay with the patient and can be shown to another specialist before the tooth is reduced: that step is irreversible. If after cementation there is pain on biting, a chip, movement of the restoration or a smell from under the margin, you should get in touch straight away rather than wait for the scheduled check-up.
📍 Lviv, Ukraine
A dental clinic in Lviv with a separate doctor for each field: oral surgery and implants, prosthodontics, restorative dentistry, endodontics under a microscope, periodontics, orthodontics and paediatric dentistry.
The choice depends on the tooth. Back teeth more often receive zirconia: it bears more load and needs less thickness, which means less grinding. In the smile zone lithium disilicate looks more natural, as its optical properties are closer to enamel, but it works best with adhesive cementation and needs sufficient wall thickness. If the prepared tooth has darkened or there is a metal post under the restoration, a translucent material will let the greyness show through, and an opaque framework is then chosen. The final decision is made by the dentist after an examination.
At MediUkraine's partner clinic, a premium zirconia crown costs from USD 282 a ceramic crown from USD 280, and a prosthodontist consultation from USD 8. Preparation is paid for separately: hygiene, treatment of caries and root canals, a post and core, X-rays. It is this part that changes the final figure most, which is why the quote is drawn up after an examination. Prices are indicative; the final cost is set by the clinic's dentist.
Sometimes, yes. If the walls of the tooth are intact and only the biting surface with one or two cusps has been destroyed, the defect is covered with a ceramic inlay, onlay or overlay. It requires less grinding, and more of the tooth's own tissue is kept, which helps it last longer. A crown is chosen when the walls are thin, when the tooth is root-filled and prone to fracture, or when a support for a bridge is needed. This can only be assessed at an examination with an X-ray.
According to studies, most zirconia and lithium disilicate restorations last more than ten years. The material, however, is not the main factor: restorations are most often replaced not because they break but because of secondary caries at the margin, loss of cementation or problems with the root under the crown. Hygiene, the distribution of load, bruxism and the amount of tooth tissue preserved count for more than the name of the ceramic. The lifespan for a particular tooth is forecast by the dentist after an examination.
No, it is not a mandatory step. A vital tooth under a crown usually lasts longer because it keeps its sensitivity and its own strength, so the pulp is not removed without need. Root canal treatment is done when indicated: inflammation of the pulp, deep destruction, the need for a post and core, and sometimes a markedly tilted tooth that has to be reduced substantially. The decision is made after a pulp vitality test and an X-ray, not in advance.
Preparation is carried out under local anaesthesia, so there is usually no pain during the visit. Once the anaesthetic wears off, a vital tooth may react to cold and pressure for one to two weeks: this is an expected reaction of exposed dentine. The temporary crown fitted the same day noticeably reduces this sensitivity. If the pain increases, however, or appears at night or when biting, an unscheduled examination is needed.
Usually two to three visits of 40–60 minutes: a consultation with a plan, preparation with scanning and a temporary crown, then cementation. The laboratory takes roughly 5–10 working days to make the restoration, so 1–2 weeks pass between preparation and cementation. If root canal treatment or a post and core is needed, one or two visits are added. For patients from abroad the schedule is drawn up so that the clinical stages coincide with the travel dates.
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