CE 421 - Dental Anatomy: A Review - DentalCare.com

Figure 16b. Permanent Teeth Arches and Quadrants. Examples of the arches
and quadrants of both primary and permanent dentition.
Image courtesy of Mosby’s Comprehensive Dental Assisting: A Clinical Approach.
Dentitions
The term dentition refers to the natural teeth in the
dental arches. There are two major dentitions:
primary and permanent. In children between the
ages of approximately 5 and 12, each arch will
contain a mixture of primary and permanent teeth.
This is referred to as mixed dentition.
Primary Dentition
The primary dentition refers to the first twenty
teeth to erupt in the oral cavity. These teeth are
also called deciduous teeth, and will be exfoliated
(shed) to make way for the permanent teeth.
There are 20 teeth in the primary dentition, there
are 2 central incisors, 2 lateral incisors, 2 canines,
2 first molars, and 2 second molars in each arch.
Table 1 shows the average eruption and exfoliation
(shedding) dates of the primary dentition.
15
Permanent Dentition
The permanent dentition contains 32 teeth, with
each arch having 2 central incisors, 2 lateral
incisors, 2 canines, 2 first premolars, 2 second
premolars, 2 first molars, 2 second molars, and 2
third molars. This period of dentition begins when
the last primary tooth is shed. The permanent teeth
that replace primary teeth are called succedaneous
teeth. The permanent molars are not succedaneous
teeth because they do not replace any primary
teeth. The primary molars are replaced with the
permanent premolars. Table 2 shows the eruption
dates of the permanent dentition.
D-A-Q-T System
The correct sequence of words when describing a
tooth is based on the D-A-Q-T system.
• D stands for dentition.
Crest ® Oral-B ®
at dentalcare.com Continuing Education Course, April 23, 2013