When you sit in your dentist's office chair, do you ever feel confused? You hear the dentist and staff talking, but you don't understand what they're saying? Dental terminology is almost its own language, with many unique terms and numbers released by professionals. You want to understand what they say about your teeth, don't you? Here is a guide to understanding dental jargon, especially what the numbers discussed mean. When dental personnel use the term 'quadrant', they don't talk about equations or formulas. It's an expression about the parts of the mouth.
Dentists divide the inside of the mouth into four sections or quadrants. The upper parts of the mouth are the first two quadrants, while the lower parts are the third and fourth. Therefore, the upper right part of the inside of the mouth is quadrant one (the right side), while the upper left part is quadrant two. The background is a little more confusing.
While the upper part numbers the right side first, it is the opposite for the lower part. The lower left is quadrant three and the lower right is quadrant four. From the dentist's perspective, they look at your mouth from top to bottom. It is easier to list the quadrants in such a way that the section under quadrant two is quadrant three. Gum disease is one of the most common problems that dentists see.
They have developed an abbreviated terminology to define the health of their gums. One of the measurements they will use to measure the gums is the space between the gum pocket and the nearby tooth. Each of your teeth will receive a number for its gum space. Dentists measure this distance in millimeters. As a patient, you want to hear a smaller number.
This means that you have a smaller gap between your tooth and gum, a sign of a healthy mouth. A larger number indicates that you have gum problems, such as plaque buildup and tartar. When your distance says that your gums have a diameter of 1 to 3 millimeters, what they really say is that you have healthy gums. It's a sign that you brush and floss regularly, usually taking good care of your teeth. Patients with this type of space between teeth and gums are likely to have spent some time between dental cleanings. Inflammation occurs naturally in such situations.
Your dentist may even warn you that you have early signs of periodontal disease or possibly bone loss. You will probably have a checkup to see if your gums bleed easily. A gum number of five millimeters or more is a problem. Your dentist will almost certainly tell you to have a deep cleaning. The hope is that cleaning will remove the buildup between the tooth and the gum.
Other possible causes are tooth breakage or gum loss. In extreme situations, a person with this level of build-up will need corrective surgery, although the dentist will generally prefer to try minor treatments first. The first thing to keep in mind is that dentists use a numbering system. So the upper right teeth start with the number “1” (that is, e). You may not have all these teeth. For example, tooth 48 is a wisdom tooth, one that dentists often remove to improve overall oral health. The upper half of the mouth has lower numbers.
These are teeth 11-17 and 21-27 on the dental table. However, the numbering system has a second purpose. It also identifies what type of tooth is being discussed. With this information, dentists can quickly write down which teeth have problems that need correction. For example, a chip in the second molar in quadrant four would be shown as tooth 47 in the table.
Wisdom teeth are the eighth tooth in each quadrant, so they are numbers 18, 28, 38 and 48 respectively. In other countries, such as in the United States, dentists use another system known as Universal System or in United Kingdom where dentists use Palmer notation method. In addition to these two methods there is also ISO system which is widely used by dentists internationally very often in United Kingdom Palmer notation method is used which bears name of Dr Corydon Palmer who was dentist from Ohio. If you have any concerns about your teeth in any way contact your local dentist who will always be happy to help you. Teeth numbering is a notation used by dentists to indicate and specify information related to particular tooth. The use of tooth numbering system allows easy identification communication and maintenance of dental records easily and accurately. If you do cosmetic dentistry with veneers generally want to highlight most visible part teeth numbers 6-11 on top and 22-26 on bottom if you listen to your dentist you will learn lot about current state of your dental hygiene. Remember table of tooth numbers from dentist perspective look at your mouth from top to bottom it easier list quadrants in such way section under quadrant two is quadrant three so upper right part inside mouth quadrant one right side while upper left part quadrant two lower left quadrant three lower right quadrant four. Therefore if you want understand what dentist saying about your teeth it important know how they number them so can easily identify which type tooth being discussed which problems need correction.