The Universal Numbering System, sometimes called the "American System", is a dental notation system commonly used in the United States. Most of the rest of the world uses the

FDI World Dental Federation notation FDI World Dental Federation notation (also "FDI notation" or "ISO 3950 notation") is the world's most commonly used dental notation (tooth numbering system). It is designated by the International Organization for Standardization as standard ISO ...

, accepted as an international standard by the

International Standards Organization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in Art ...

as ISO 3950. However, dentists in the United Kingdom commonly still use the older

Palmer notation Palmer notation (sometimes called the "Military System" and named for 19th-century American dentist Dr. Corydon Palmer from Warren, Ohio) is a dental notation (tooth numbering system). Despite the adoption of the FDI World Dental Federation not ...

despite the difficulty in representing its graphical components in computerized (non-handwritten) records.

Left and right

Dental charts are normally arranged from the viewpoint of a dental practitioner facing a patient. The patient's right side appears on the left side of the chart, and the patient's left side appears on the right side of the chart. The labels "right" and "left" on the charts in this article correspond to the patient's right and left, respectively.

Universal numbering system

Although it is named the "universal numbering system", it is also called the "American system" as it is only used in the United States. The uppercase letters ''A'' through ''T'' are used for primary teeth and the numbers 1 - 32 are used for permanent teeth. The tooth designated "1" is the maxillary right third molar ("

wisdom tooth A third molar, commonly called wisdom tooth, is one of the three molars per quadrant of the human dentition. It is the most posterior of the three. The age at which wisdom teeth come through ( erupt) is variable, but this generally occurs betw ...

") and the count continues along the upper teeth to the left side. Then the count begins at the mandibular left third molar, designated number 17, and continues along the bottom teeth to the right side. Each tooth has a unique number or letter, allowing for easier use on keyboards.

Tooth numbering

Permanent teeth and their assigned numbers (Universal Tooth Numbering System) Upper right Upper left Lower left Lower right

References

External links

Dr. Bunn page on dental notations

Video regarding the Universal Numbering System
{{Tooth anatomy . *

Left and right

Universal numbering system

Tooth numbering

See also

References

External links