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Monday, August 4, 2014

Dental Charts to Understand Tooth Numbering System

Dental Charts to Understand Tooth Numbering System
Dental numbering or notation systems provide the dentists with a standard method for referring to particular teeth. This Buzzle write-up presents dental charts to understand tooth numbering systems.
                                   

Did You Know?
The Universal Numbering System, which is widely used in the United States, was adopted by the American Dental Association in 1968.
Most adults have 32 teeth, which are referred to as permanent teeth. The first set of teeth that appear during childhood are referred to as primary or deciduous teeth. There are 20 primary teeth that erupt by the age of 6 months, and are shed during childhood. Usually, the last primary tooth is shed by 11-12 years. By the time one reaches the age of 13, 28 of the 32 permanent teeth have erupted. The last four permanent teeth usually erupt by the age of 25.

Both the maxillary (upper jaw) and mandibular (lower jaw) arches contain similar types of teeth. There are four types of teeth that are present in the upper as well as lower jaw. These are called incisors, canines, premolars, and molars.

In dentistry, permanent and deciduous teeth are identified with the help of numbering systems. Here's some information on the classification of the teeth and the popular numbering systems. 
              
The front four teeth in the upper and lower jaw are called incisors. The two teeth in the center are called central incisors, whereas the teeth on either side of the central incisors are called lateral incisors. These help us in cutting or biting food. Canines, which are also called cuspids, are slightly pointed. These help in tearing food particles while chewing. Separated by the incisors, there are two canines each, in the upper and lower jaw. Four premolars are present in each dental arch. Two premolars are located behind each canine in both arches. These help us crush food while chewing. Molars are classified into first, second, and third molars. Normally, six molars are present in each dental arch. These are located behind the second premolar on both sides of each arch. These are bigger than the premolars, and help us grind food into smaller particles. The third molars are also referred to as wisdom teeth; not every person may develop wisdom teeth. 
         
Deciduous teeth are the first set of 20 teeth that appear in childhood. It must be noted that children don't have premolars. Only adults have premolars, which are a part of permanent teeth only.

Dental Numbering Systems

It is believed that the first dental numbering system was proposed by a Hungarian dentist named Adolf Zsigmondy in 1861. Though more than twenty dental notation or tooth numbering systems have been developed over the years, most dentists use one of the three tooth numbering systems that are given below:

➠ Universal Numbering System (widely used by the dentists in the United States)
➠ Palmer Notation System
➠ FDI World Dental Federation Two-digit Notation (International)

Universal Numbering System for Adult Teeth

In the universal numbering system, the third molar on the right in the upper or maxillary dental arch is assigned the number 1. The teeth are numbered along with upper dental arch from right to left, as 1 to 16, with the last molar tooth back on the top left of the upper dental arch as the number 16. Similarly, in the lower (mandibular) dental arch or jaw, the numbering continues, with the third molar on the left being given the number 17. The teeth in the lower jaw are numbered from left to right, as 17 to 32, with the third molar or the tooth farthest back on the bottom right side of the mouth as the number 32.  
       
  

All the adult teeth are numbered in this manner, even if the third molars or wisdom teeth have not yet erupted, or some of the teeth have been removed due to dental problems.

Universal Numbering for Primary or Deciduous Teeth

As mentioned earlier, there are a total of 20 primary teeth. In the original system, these were numbered as 1 to 20, as per the method used for adults. The only difference was that a small letter "d" followed each number to suggest that the teeth are deciduous or primary. These days, dentists use another version of the Universal Numbering System for children. Instead of numbering the teeth, each tooth is assigned a letter. Children's teeth are assigned upper case letters from A through T. The second primary molar in the upper jaw on the right is assigned the letter A, and the numbering continues in the alphabetical order, with the second primary molar on the left in the upper jaw being assigned the letter J. Similarly, in the lower jaw, the second primary molar on the left is assigned the letter K, and the numbering continues in the order till T, which is the letter that is assigned to the second primary molar on the right.
 

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