Glossary of dentistry

Updated on Dec 12, 2024

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This is a list of commonly used terms of location and direction in dentistry. This set of terms provides orientation within the oral cavity, much as anatomical terms of location provide orientation throughout the body.

The direction towards the front of the head or the lips, as opposed to posterior, which refers to the directions towards the back of an individual's head. The term anterior teeth refers to incisors and canines, as opposed to premolars and molars, which are posterior teeth.

Apical

The direction towards the root tip(s) or apex(es) of a tooth (the apices), as opposed to coronal, which refers to the direction towards the crown. It may also refer to something relating to the roots, such as apical support. When referring to direction in relation to entities on or of the crown, this term can be synonymous with both cervical and gingival.

Axial

A plane parallel to the surface of a tooth. For example, if a drill bur would be inserted into a tooth from any side (proximal, vestibular, oral), the depth of the hole is defined from the axial wall of the hole (from the long axis walls (vertical surfaces bounding the tooth)).

Buccal

The side of a tooth that is adjacent to (or the direction towards) the inside of the cheek, as opposed to lingual or palatal (both oral), which refer to the side of a tooth adjacent to (or the direction towards) the tongue or palate, respectively, the oral cavity. Although technically referring only to posterior teeth (where the cheeks are present instead of lips, use of this term has incorrectly extended to all teeth, anterior and posterior), this term has inaccurately been employed to describe the vestibular surface of (or directions in relation to) anterior teeth as well.

Cervical

Means neck in Latin (as in cervical vertebrae), and refers to the narrowing of the contours of the tooth surface at or near the CEJ, where the crown meets the root. When referring to direction in relation to entities on or of the crown, it is nearly synonymous with both apical and gingival.

Coronal

The direction towards the crown of a tooth, as opposed to apical, which refers to the direction towards the tip(s) of the root(s) or apex(es). It may also refer to something relating to the crown, such as coronal forces.

Distal

The direction towards the gingiva beyond the tooth furthest from the anterior midline (the 'most posterior tooth' or last tooth) in each quadrant of a dental arch, as opposed to mesial, which refers to the direction towards the anterior midline. Each tooth can be described as having a distal surface and, for posterior teeth, a distobuccal (DB) and a distolingual (DL) corner or cusp.

Facial

The side of a tooth that is adjacent to (or the direction towards) the inside of the lips, as opposed to lingual or palatal (both oral), which refer to the side of a tooth adjacent to (or the direction towards) the tongue or palate, respectively, the oral cavity. However, this term has been incorrectly used as an umbrella term for both the term buccal and labial, being also applied to the side of a tooth that is adjacent to (or the direction towards) the inside of the cheek (instead of the more accurate term, vestibular).

Gingival

The direction towards the gingiva (gums), synonymous with cervical and similar to apical. However, locations on teeth already more apical to the interface of the crown and root, referred to as the CEJ, tend not to be described using this term, as it would lead to confusion, as the exact definition is ambiguous. Additionally, this term would not be used when referring to a tooth ex vivo.

Incisal

The direction towards the biting edge of anterior teeth or something relating to this edge, such as the terms incisal guidance or incisal edge. This is the sister term to occlusal, which related to the analogous location on posterior teeth.

Inferior

The direction towards the feet of a human's body, as opposed to superior, which refers to the direction towards the head. However, use of these terms should enjoy only limited usage when discussing features of a tooth, as, for example, something more inferior on a mandibular tooth will be situated more superior on a maxillary tooth, as they exhibit an inverted relationship. It is for this reason that the terms coronal and apical are substituted.

Interproximal

An adjective meaning between teeth. For example, interproximal teeth refers to the space between adjacent teeth.

Labial

The side of a tooth that is adjacent to (or the direction towards) the inside of the lip (labium), as opposed to lingual or palatal (both oral), which refer to the side of a tooth adjacent to (or the direction towards) the tongue or palate, respectively, the oral cavity. Although technically referring only to anterior teeth (where the lips (labia) are present instead of cheeks), use of the term buccal has inaccurately extended to all teeth, anterior and posterior (instead of vestibular, the umbrella term).

Lingual

The side of a tooth adjacent to (or the direction towards) the tongue (lingua, compare linguistics and language), as opposed to buccal, labial, or vestibular which refer to the side of a tooth adjacent to (or the direction towards) the inside of the cheek or lips, respectively. Although this term is technically specific to the mandible, it enjoys extensive use in reference to the maxilla as well (see Palatal).

Mandibular

Entities related to the mandible, or lower jaw.

Marginal

A number of different 'margins' that are involved in dentistry. The edge of tooth structure that is prepared to meet the edge of a prosthetic crown is called a margin, as is the aforementioned edge of the crown; an example of this usage would be "a poorly fitting crown might exhibit marginal leakage." The gingiva and bone that abut the teeth are referred to as 'marginal', as in marginal periodontitis. The bulk of tooth structure on the occlusal surface at the point of contact of posterior teeth is referred to as the marginal ridge.

Maxillary

Entities related to the maxilla, or upper jaw.

Mesial

The direction towards the anterior midline in a dental arch, as opposed to distal, which refers to the direction towards the gingiva beyond the tooth furthest from the anterior midline (the 'most posterior tooth' or last tooth) in each quadrant. Each tooth can be described as having a mesial surface and, for posterior teeth, a mesiobuccal (MB) and a mesiolingual (ML) corner or cusp.

Midline

Main article: Dental midline. Roughly, an imaginary vertical line dividing the left and right sides of the mouth at the teeth.

Occlusal

The direction towards the biting surface of posterior teeth or something relating to this surface, such as the terms occlusal interference or occlusal surface. This is the sister term to incisal, which related to the analogous location on anterior teeth.

Oral

The side of a tooth adjacent to (or the direction towards) the oral cavity, as opposed to buccal, labial or vestibular, which refer to the side of a tooth adjacent to (or the direction towards) the inside of the cheek, lips or vestibule respectively. This term is an umbrella term for both the term palatal and lingual. Alternatively, the term lingual has been used as a blanket term instead although this specifically refers only to the side of a tooth that is adjacent to (or the direction towards) the tongue, technically specific to the mandible.

Palatal

The side of a tooth adjacent to (or the direction towards) the palate, as opposed to buccal, labial or vestibular which refer to the side of a tooth adjacent to (or the direction towards) the inside of the cheek, lips and vestibule of the mouth respectively. This term is strictly used in the maxilla.

Posterior

The direction towards the back of an individual's head, as opposed to anterior, which refers to the directions towards an individual's lips. The term posterior teeth refers to premolars and molars, as opposed to incisors and canines, which are anterior teeth.

Quadrant

The dentition is divided into four quarters. The two dental arches form an oval, which is divided into quadrants:

Upper right quadrant: upper right first incisor to upper right wisdom tooth

Upper left quadrant: upper left first incisor to upper left wisdom tooth

Lower right quadrant: lower right first incisor to lower right wisdom tooth

Lower left quadrant: lower left first incisor to lower left wisdom tooth

Proximal

The surfaces of teeth that normally lie adjacent to another tooth. It is an umbrella term that includes both mesial and distal, such as when referring to the proximal surfaces of teeth.

Superior

The direction towards the head of a human's body, as opposed to inferior, which refers to the direction towards the feet. However, use of these terms should enjoy only limited use when discussing features of a tooth, as, for example, something more superior on a mandibular tooth will be situated more inferior on a maxillary tooth, as they exhibit an inverted relationship. It is for this reason that the terms coronal and apical are substituted.

Vestibular

The side of a tooth that is adjacent to (or the direction towards) the inside of the cheeks and lips, as opposed to lingual or palatal (both oral), which refer to the side of a tooth adjacent to (or the direction towards) the tongue or palate, respectively, the oral cavity. This term is an umbrella term for both the term buccal and labial. Alternatively, the term facial has been used as the umbrella term instead although this specifically refers only to the side of a tooth that is adjacent to (or the direction towards) the inside of the lips, as opposed to lingual or palatal (both oral), and not the cheeks.

Combining of terms

Most of the principal terms can be combined using their corresponding combining forms (such as mesio- for mesial and disto- for distal). They provide names for directions (vectors) and axes; for example, the coronoapical axis is the long axis of a tooth. Such combining yields terms such as those in the following list. The abbreviations should be used only in restricted contexts, where they are explicitly defined and help avoid extensive repetition (for example, a journal article that uses the term "mesiodistal" dozens of times might use the abbreviation "MD"). The abbreviations are ambiguous: (1) they are not specific to these terms; (2) they are not even one-to-one specific within this list; and (3) some of the combined terms are little used, and the abbreviations of the latter are even less used. Therefore, spelling out is best.

The combined terms include apicocoronal (AC), buccoapical (BA), buccocervical (BC), buccogingival (BG), buccolabial (BL), buccolingual (BL), bucco-occlusal (BO), buccopalatal (BP), coronoapical (CA), distoapical (DA), distobuccal (DB), distocervical (DC), distocoronal (DC), distogingival (DG), distolingual (DL), disto-occlusal or distoclusal (DO), distopalatal (DP), linguobuccal (LB), linguo-occlusal (LO), mesioapical (MA), mesiobuccal (MB), mesiocervical (MC), mesiocoronal (MC), mesiodistal (MD), mesiogingival (MG), mesio-occlusal or mesioclusal (MO), mesiopalatal (MP).

References

Glossary of dentistry Wikipedia

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