

The roots are also thinner and shorter so they can easily grow out of the gums to make way for our permanent teeth.Ĭhildren usually retain their primary teeth until the age of 6 or 7, when they begin to loosen and shed. Primary teeth are noticeably smaller than adult teeth. Normally, our upper and lower incisors are the first teeth that appear (and also the first teeth to fall out). Baby teeth usually start to erupt from the gums in infants aged 6 months. As infants and young children, we develop 20 individual primary teeth, also known as baby teeth, milk teeth, or deciduous teeth. BOTTOM TEETHĪs you may already know, human beings grow two sets of teeth in their lifetime. Then, we work our way back to the lower right quadrant, ending at Tooth #32. We continue counting our bottom teeth from Tooth #17 found in the lower left quadrant. Dentists and dental hygienists will count through to Tooth #16, located in the upper left quadrant. We start with Tooth #1, a molar on the back right side of our mouths known as the upper right quadrant. Our first 16 teeth are located at the top of the mouth. A healthy human mouth will have symmetrically arranged teeth so that teeth on opposing sides of the mouth will be of the same type. Now that we are familiar with the four types of teeth, we can easily pinpoint the location of each tooth in our mouths. Our canine teeth can have a more animalistic appearance, and some evolutionists believe humans developed canines to be able to consume meat. Canine teeth are distinctly sharper than our other teeth in order to effectively tear food into chewable chunks. Healthy mouths contain 4 canine teeth which flank our incisors (2 on the top and 2 on the bottom). Our incisors are designed for biting and gripping food for chewing. The center two incisors are known as “central”, while the two on either side are known as “lateral”. This tooth type is the first to emerge in infants as early as 6 months old. Our 8 frontmost teeth (4 on the top and 4 on the bottom) are referred to as incisors. Bicuspids usually have a flat surface to help tear food apart and assist the molars with food liquefaction. Each side of the mouth holds 4 premolars, or 8 premolars in total. Wisdom teeth are a type of molar which emerge at the very back of the gums in some dental patients.Īlso known as bicuspids, our premolars are slightly less strong than our molars. Molars are grown to be extremely strong to grind and crush textured foods for safe swallowing. A healthy set of teeth will have 12 molars arranged in the back of the mouth. Our molars are responsible for helping us thoroughly chew our food. Types of Human TeethĪdults have 32 teeth, which can be broken down into four categories: With this guide, you can feel more confident and prepared ahead of your next important dental procedure.
TEETH NUMBERS ON DENTAL CHART HOW TO
The good news is, it’s easy to learn how to read your dental chart. In this system, the teeth in the upper jaw are numbered 1-16 from right to left and teeth in the lower jaw are numbered 17 – 32 from left to right.Trying to interpret your dental x-rays can be very confusing, so it’s no surprise that many people are afraid of the dentist. Similar to finding a route to a destination, the numbering can be done in numerous ways. The numbering of teeth is done to indicate the location of a tooth, just like the chemical symbols for elements. The permanent teeth are arranged in each quadrant as : 2 Incisors – 1 Canine – 2 Premolars – 3 Molarsfrom central to lateral. The 20 left are successional permanent teeth in which the permanent premolars erupt in place of deciduous molars. The 2 types of permanent teeth are superadded permanent teeth, which have no deciduous predecessor and erupt behind a deciduous teeth and successional permanent teeth, which erupt in place of the deciduous teeth after they have fallen.Īll the 12 permanent molars are superadded permanent teeth.

The first deciduous teeth are the lower central incisors which erupt at about 6th month. The teeth in the lower jaw erupt earlier than those in upper jaw except Lateral incisor. They are 20 in number and each quadrant has 5 teeth arranged as : 2 Incisors – Canine – 0 Premolars – 2 Molars. The first set of teeth erupting soon after birth is called deciduous teeth or milk teeth or temporary teeth. Image Source: Types of Teeth Primary dentition CI-central incisor LI-lateral incisor C- canine PM- Premolar M- Molar
