Introduction to Dental

Anatomy

Dental Anatomy
2nd year dental students
Summer semester 2006/2007
Introduction
• Human dentition is diphyodont
– 2 sets of dentitions
• Primary/deciduous
– 20 teeth in total
– Incisors/canines/molars
– Smaller size
• Secondary/permanent
– 32 teeth in total
– Incisors/canines/premolars/molars
– Bigger size
Deciduous & permanent
dentitions

• Why do
we have
to have
2 sets of
teeth?
Why 2 sets of
dentitions?
•The jaws have to
accommodate the
increased number of
permanent teeth and their
bigger size
Dental formula
– I for incisors
– C for Canines
– PM for premolars
– M for molars
– Deciduous teeth are
indicated by the letter D
before the initial
Human dental
formula
•Deciduous teeth
– DI 2/2 DC 1/1 DM 2/2 = 10
•Permanent teeth
– I 2/2 C 1/1 PM 2/2 M 3/3 = 16

The numbers following the letter refer to the

number of teeth of each type in the upper then
the lower dentition for one side only
Quadrants
• Tooth-bearing region of the jaw can
be divided into 4 quadrants
– Right maxillary (1 or 5)
– Left maxillary (2 or 6)
– Left mandibular (3 or 7)
– Right mandibular (4 or 8)

Quadrants in permanent dentition have the

numbers 1 - 4 and in deciduous have the
numbers 5 - 8
Quadrants

1 or 5 2 or 6

4 or 8 3 or 7
Teeth order

• Each tooth in a quadrant takes a

letter (A – E for deciduous) or a
number (1 – 8 for permanent)
indicating its order when counting
from the midline
EDCB ABCD 8765432 1234567
A E 1 8
EDCBA ABCD 8765432 1234567
E 1 8
Dental nomenclature
• By words
– Set
• Deciduous or permanent
– Jaw
• Maxillary or mandibular
– Class
• Incisor/canine/premolar/molar
– Order within a class
• Central or lateral
• First/second/third
– Side
• Right or left
• By numbers, letters and/or symbols
– Palmer notation system
– Universal numbering system
– FDI numbering system
Palmer/Zsigmondy notation
system
• American Dental Association in 1947
• Tooth is represented by a number 1 – 8
(permanent) or a letter A – E (deciduous)
• Two lines; indicates which quadrant the tooth
belongs to
– a horizontal representing the occlusal plane and
– a vertical representing the midline
• Examples: 1
– Maxillary right central incisor
E
– Mandibular left second deciduous molar

EDCB ABCD 8765432 1234567

A E 1 8
EDCB ABCD 8765432 1234567
A E 1 8
Universal numbering system
• Palmer – difficulty in keyboard typing
• ADA adopted the universal system in 1968
• Uppercase letters for deciduous teeth
– Consecutive from A to T
– Following a clockwise order from maxillary right second
molar to mandibular right second molar
• Numbers for permanent teeth
– Consecutive from 1 to 32
– Following a clockwise order from maxillary right third
molar to mandibular right third molar

ABCD FGHI J 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
E 8 16
TSRQ ONML 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 24 23 22 21 20 19 18
P K 25 17
 FDI numbering system
• Proposed by FDI & adopted by WHO
• Each tooth is allocated a two-digit number;
the left designates the quadrant and the
right designates the tooth order
• Examples
– Mandibular right permanent canine 43
– Maxillary left deciduous lateral incisor 62

55 54 53 52 61 62 63 64 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
51 65 11 28

85 84 83 82 71 72 73 74 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 31 32 33 34 35 36 37
81 75 41 38