Introduction to Dental Terms

By
Judith A. Porter DDS, EdD
There are many kinds of teeth
We will be specifically learning about
human teeth.
Teeth come in all shapes and sizes:
Over the course of your dental school career, you will learn how
to correct the size and shape of a tooth to make it more pleasing
and esthetic. You will be an artist and your patients teeth will
be your canvas.
Teeth on the top are
referred to as
maxillary teeth and
all of the maxillary
teeth are referred to
as the maxillary
arch.
Teeth on the bottom are called
mandibular teeth and all of the
mandibular teeth are referred to as the
mandibular arch.
ANTERIOR TEETH
When we talk about anterior teeth,
we are referring to those from the
canines forward (you may have
heard these called eye teeth).
These are the teeth most
noticeable when you smile.
Anterior teeth have
specific names.
The four front teeth are incisors: two central incisors
and two lateral incisors.
The imaginary line between
central incisors is called the
Midline.
We must be even more specific when talking with our colleagues
and will designate a tooth by not only name, but by position (arch
and left or right always the patients left or right side.
Maxillary right
central incisor
Mandibular left
lateral incisor
Midline
Canines have special names, too!
Maxillary right
canine
Mandibular
right canine
Maxillary left
canine
Mandibular left
canine
Posterior Teeth
Posterior teeth are
all those behind
the canines.
Premolars are usually the first two teeth behind the canines. When you
begin noticing teeth, sometimes you will find that someone has only one
premolar if the other premolar was removed when wearing braces so
crowded teeth have more room.
Molars are the teeth behind the premolars. They are larger and have
surfaces large enough for grinding. Many people do not have room for the
third molars or wisdom teeth.
As in the case of anterior teeth, professionals (we dentists) will talk about
posterior teeth very precisely so were certain we all know exactly to
which tooth were referring!
Maxillary left first
premolar
Mandibular left second
molar
Maxillary right
first molar
Mandibular right
second premolar
Third molars (or wisdom teeth) are missing from this picture.
Remember: we always refer
to the patients left or right.
Lets see how youre doing!!
1
2
3
4
5
Name the teeth
indicated as
specifically as
possible.
Answers
1. Maxillary right central incisor
2. Maxillary left canine
3. Maxillary right first premolar
4. Mandibular right lateral
incisor
5. Mandibular left second molar
Basic parts of the teeth
Crown
Root(s)
Root apex
refers to
the tip of
the root
Root apices
Basic terms regarding tooth
surfaces
Terms: Tooth surfaces
In many professional fields, a new language must
be learned in order to communicate with other
professionals.
It would be difficult for us to refer to a specific
point on a tooth by merely sayingyou
knowthe front corner of the tooth!
The word front might mean something different
to each person and the word corner may be
taken in many different ways for a curved surface
like a tooth.
Terms: tooth surfaces
In order to communicate more effectively
and precisely with our colleagues, we have
therefore adopted a rather unique and
universal way of of directing another
professionals attention to a very specific
place on each tooth.
The following section begins to explain
some of these terms.
Mesial
The term mesial refers to the area of the
tooth closest to or facing the midline.
The mesial surfaces of these anterior teeth are marked in yellow.
The midline is indicated in red.
Distal
Distal refers to the surface
of the tooth furthest from
the midline.
Distal surfaces of
these anterior teeth
are indicated in
green. Mesial and
distal surfaces are
also known as
proximal surfaces if
they face another
tooth.
The distal surfaces of wisdom teeth (or third molars) are NOT
proximal surfaces because there are no other teeth behind
them.
Midline indicated in red
Usually, the mesial
surface of one
tooth meets the
distal surface of
anotherexcept at
the midline
(indicated in red).
Mesial for these maxillary anterior teeth is marked in yellow and
distal in green.
Facial
The term facial is a general one that refers to the surface
of the tooth nearest the face. More specific terms are
labial (pronounced lay-bee-ul)that means facing the lips
(for anterior teeth) and buccal(pronounced buck-ul) that
means facing the buccinator muscle of the cheek (for
posterior teeth).
Facial
Of these facial surfaces, those
typically designated as
labial are in orange and
those referred to as buccal
are outlined in blue.
Lingual
Similarly, the surfaces of the
teeth nearest the tongue
(you guessed it!) are
referred to as the lingual
surfaces. The red ellipse
indicates where the lingual
surfaces are found.
We also talk about a precise
spot on a tooth with
directional terms. If a spot is
toward the root, we say it is
apical (toward the
apex).The opposite end of
the tooth is either referred to
as incisal or occlusal.
The word incisal is used for incisors because they incise or cut
food. The word occlusal is used for premolars and molars
because their surfaces are broad enough to grind food.
Lets see how youre doing!
1. The surface toward the face
2. The surface toward the midline
3. The surface nearest the tongue
4. The surface furthest from the midline
A. Mesial
B. Distal
C. Labial or buccal
D. Lingual
Please match the
terms with the
correct answer.
ANSWERS
1. C
2. A
3. D
4. B
If these were your answers,
youre doing great!!!
Line Angles
A line angle is a line formed by the junction of Two
Surfaces or planes of a tooth and derives its name from
those two surfaces.
Line Angles
Point Angles
Point Angles are defined as a point formed by the junction
of Three Surfaces and derives its name from those surfaces.
Its difficult from this
picture of a single
tooth to tell which is
mesial or distal.
Dont worry about
that now! This
explanation is just to
get the general
concept.
Youll learn many more terms in the language of dentistry
once you get here and we have a chance to work together.
We like to have suggestions from our students and this short
presentation is a result of suggestions from last years first-year
students. They felt it would be much more helpful to learn some terms
before you get here so it wont be as overwhelming in your first two
weeks!!
We hope you enjoyed this short introduction! If you have any
questions, feel free to email me. jporter@umaryland.edu
Enjoy the rest of your summer!!!