From a two-person shop in 2019 to 14+ technicians serving dental offices nationwide
Founder Mykola Shtirbul built Almaaz Dental Repair on a simple promise: tell the office the truth about their equipment, fix it right the first time, and get it back fast.
It started with one bench and two people
In 2019, Mykola Shtirbul opened Almaaz Dental Repair with two employees, a workbench and a service van. He had spent years around dental equipment and kept hearing the same complaints from offices: repairs took weeks, handpieces were shipped out of state, estimates arrived after the work was done, and nobody explained what actually failed.
He decided to build the opposite of that. Free diagnosis. A flat-rate estimate before anything billable started. Repairs done on a local bench instead of being shipped across the country. And a phone number that reaches a person who knows what a turbine cartridge sounds like when its bearings are going.
Midwest Handpiece Training Certificate · Mykola Shtirbul · November 2020
Word travels fast between dental offices
Offices talk to each other. One practice sends a handpiece, it comes back working better than expected, and their study club hears about it. That is how Almaaz grew, one repair at a time.
2019
Almaaz Dental Repair opens with Mykola and two employees, serving Chicago-area practices.
Growing
Handpiece rebuilds and chair repairs bring in referrals across Cook, DuPage, Lake, Will, Kane and McHenry counties.
Nationwide
Mail-in service opens the bench to offices across the United States and Canada.
Today
A team of 14+ technicians serving 800+ dental offices, with field service, bench repair and maintenance plans.
Mykola Shtirbul
Mykola still works the way he did on day one: hands on the equipment, phone answered, estimates explained in plain language. He trains every technician who joins the team on the same standard he started with, from how a handpiece is tested on the bench to how a customer is told bad news about a chair that is not worth repairing.
His view is that dental equipment service is a relationship business. A practice that can trust its repair shop stops worrying about downtime and gets back to treating patients.
- Founded in 2019
Started with two employees and one bench in the Chicago area. - 14+ technicians today
Bench specialists and field technicians trained in-house. - 800+ offices served
Practices across the United States and Canada. - Independent
Not tied to any manufacturer, so the recommendation is what is best for the office.
How we work with every practice
Tell the truth
If a repair is not worth the money, we say so. If an OEM rebuild is the better option for your situation, we will tell you that too, even though it means the work leaves our bench.
Price it up front
Diagnosis is free and the estimate is flat-rate. Nothing billable begins until someone at your office approves it.
Move fast
Most handpieces and small equipment turn around in 3–5 business days, with loaners available for chairs and sterilizers so the schedule keeps moving.
Boys will be boys! Part of our amazing tech team
A state-of-the-art dental laboratory is coming to Almaaz
For seven years we have kept the equipment in your operatory running. The next step is the work that equipment produces. In summer 2027, Almaaz opens a full digital dental laboratory, so the practices we already serve can get their crowns, bridges, implant restorations and appliances from the same team, on the same timeline they have come to expect from our bench.
The lab and the service bench belong together
Every remake has a cause. Sometimes it is the impression, sometimes the preparation, and often it is the equipment: a scanner drifting out of calibration, a milling unit with worn spindle bearings, a sintering furnace running below its programmed temperature, a curing light that lost half its output two years ago. Most labs can only report the symptom. We can test the machine that caused it.
One team, one phone call
When a case does not seat, the same company can look at the restoration and at the scanner, articulator or milling unit that produced it, instead of two vendors pointing at each other.
Calibration built in
Our technicians already carry the test equipment. Practices on a lab agreement will get their scanners and imaging checked on a schedule, not after a remake.
Local turnaround
Chicagoland cases move on our own routes rather than through a shipping hub, and mail-in cases follow the same tracked process as our repair work.
What we are equipping it with
The lab is being planned as a fully digital workflow with analog capability kept intact, because not every practice scans and not every case should be milled.
Digital intake
Direct STL and PLY uploads from the major intraoral scanners, plus a desktop scanner for traditional impressions and stone models, so a practice can send a case digitally or in a box.
CAD design studio
Dedicated design stations with anatomy libraries, smile design and implant planning, staffed by technicians rather than outsourced overseas.
5-axis milling
Wet and dry milling for zirconia, lithium disilicate, PMMA and titanium, with tool-life monitoring so margins stay accurate across a full production run.
Additive manufacturing
Resin printers for models, surgical guides, try-ins, night guards and custom trays, with a validated wash-and-cure process for each material.
Sintering & ceramics
High-temperature sintering furnaces with logged firing cycles, plus a hand-layering and staining bench for anterior cases that need an artist, not a machine.
Quality control
Fit verification, shade checking under corrected lighting and documented sign-off on every case before it ships, with the case file archived for remakes and warranty.
What the lab will produce
The opening menu is built around what Chicagoland practices order most, with specialty work added as the team grows.
- Fixed restorations
Zirconia and lithium disilicate crowns, bridges, inlays, onlays and veneers. - Implant restorations
Custom abutments, screw-retained crowns, hybrids and full-arch cases, with surgical guides. - Removable
Full and partial dentures, implant overdentures, repairs, relines and printed try-ins. - Appliances
Night guards, sports guards, splints, retainers and clear aligner models.
2026 — Planning and space
Lab layout, ventilation, power and equipment selection finalized alongside our Evanston expansion.
Winter 2026/27 — Build-out
Milling, printing and sintering equipment installed, commissioned and validated.
Spring 2027 — Pilot cases
A small group of partner practices runs live cases with us while we tune the workflow and turnaround.
Summer 2027 — Open
The lab opens to all Almaaz clients, in Chicagoland and by mail across the USA and Canada.
What it means for your practice
Predictable schedules
Case status you can check, and a lab that understands why a seat appointment cannot move.
Fewer remakes
Equipment and restoration handled by one team, with calibration checked as part of the relationship.
Digital or analog
Send scans or impressions. We will not make you change how your practice works to use the lab.
One invoice
Service, parts and lab work from a single vendor, with one point of contact for questions.
A limited number of practices will run cases with us before the lab opens.
1922 Dempster Street, inside Evanston Plaza
In February 2026 we moved into a larger space at Evanston Plaza, giving our technicians a bigger bench, more room for parts and easier drop-offs for local practices. There is free parking in the plaza lot, and drop-offs are welcome Mon–Fri, 8:00a–5:00p CT.
Let's take care of your equipment
Talk to a technician about a repair, a maintenance plan or a mail-in service from anywhere in the USA or Canada.