Understanding the dental dial

When you visit the dentist, when he or she notices the beginnings of decay in one of your teeth, he or she will identify the tooth in question by a number or a name. This is also how dental insurance companies identify teeth in claims or treatment cost estimates. To understand the dental dial, you should read the following carefully.

This article will help you understand dental anatomy a little better. We have written an article that covers the different aspects of tooth anatomy right here: tooth anatomy

dental dial

Understanding teething

The oral cavity plays a vital role in the proper functioning of our body. In addition to participating in chewing, it aids in digestion and nutrition while playing a fundamental role in appearance, speech, and sensations. Dental professionals use the ISO 3950 standardization system of the WHO (World Health Organization), and it is based on the notation system used by the FDI (International Dental Federation). This system identifies teeth as tooth number 16 according to 4 quadrants dividing the two jaws. The teeth are distributed over 2 arches, each composed of 2 quadrants or hemi-archs (16 teeth per arch and 8 teeth per quadrant for the permanent dentition). The upper arch is the maxillary arch, which is fixed, while the lower arch is the mandibular arch. To simplify understanding, the dentist presents an overview of the dentition using a diagram called an odontogram. Several elements make up the structure of the teeth, and this diagram allows for a better visualization of the location of dental problems and the proposed treatments. In addition to the diagram, there are numbers to designate the teeth to be treated, and this greatly simplifies understanding.

Dental dials for tooth identification

The dentist needs to identify the dentition by section in order to target the region of several contiguous teeth. Thus, the mouth is divided into 4 sections called quadrants (two for the upper teeth and two for the lower teeth). Quadrant 1 is located at the top on your right, quadrant 2 is at the top on your left, quadrant 3 is at the bottom on your left, and quadrant 4 is located at the bottom on your right. However, the dentist reads the dental chart while looking at his patient. Each quadrant includes a central incisor, a neighboring lateral incisor, an adjacent canine, two premolars, and three molars (6-year-old tooth, 12-year-old tooth, and wisdom tooth). In each quadrant, the teeth each have a number, from 1 to 8, and the numbering goes from the middle to the back. This numbering consists of two numbers: the first for the quadrant and the second for the tooth itself. For example, tooth 46 is the sixth tooth on the dial to your lower left (dial 4, position 6). To accurately identify the teeth, you must specify the dial and the location of the tooth. The absence of a tooth on a dial does not change the number that represents the other teeth.

We wrote an article where we go over each part of the tooth in detail: enamel, pulp, and dentin. You can find this article right here: diagram of a tooth

There are 20 baby teeth : 8 incisors, 4 canines, and 8 molars. You can read our article on this topic.

We have written a very comprehensive article on the number of teeth and tooth number which you can find here: tooth number

There are several tooth numbering systems, the FDI system, the FDI system and the Palmer system. We will take stock of these different systems in a dedicated article that you can find right here: dental numbering system

And the concept of dental diagram which is a representation of the entire dentition that we have explained here: dental diagram

If you want to know more about wisdom teeth, we have an article that specifically addresses this topic: wisdom teeth