The maxillary second premolar is one of two

teeth A tooth ( : teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, ...

located in the upper maxilar, laterally (away from the midline of the

face The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may aff ...

) from both the

maxillary first premolar The maxillary first premolar is one of two teeth located in the upper jaw, laterally (away from the midline of the face) from both the maxillary canines of the mouth but mesial (toward the midline of the face) from both maxillary second premolars ...

s of the

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

but mesial (toward the midline of the face) from both maxillary first molars. The function of this

premolar The premolars, also called premolar teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant in the permanent set of teeth, making eight premolars total in the mouth ...

is similar to that of first molars in regard to grinding being the principal action during

mastication Chewing or mastication is the process by which food is crushed and ground by teeth. It is the first step of digestion, and it increases the surface area of foods to allow a more efficient break down by enzymes. During the mastication process, ...

, commonly known as chewing. There are two

cusp A cusp is the most pointed end of a curve. It often refers to cusp (anatomy), a pointed structure on a tooth. Cusp or CUSP may also refer to: Mathematics * Cusp (singularity), a singular point of a curve * Cusp catastrophe, a branch of bifurc ...

s on maxillary second premolars, but both of them are less sharp than those of the maxillary first premolars. There are no

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

(baby) maxillary premolars. Instead, the teeth that precede the permanent maxillary premolars are the deciduous maxillary molars. In the universal system of notation, the permanent maxillary premolars are designated by a number. The right permanent maxillary second premolar is known as "4", and the left one is known as "13". In the

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 ...

, a number is used in conjunction with a symbol designating in which quadrant the tooth is found. For this tooth, the left and right second premolars would have the same number, "5", but the right one would have the symbol, "┘", underneath it, while the left one would have, "└". The international notation has a different numbering system than the previous two, and the right permanent maxillary second premolar is known as "15", and the left one is known as "25".

References

*Ash, Major M. and Stanley J. Nelson, 2003. ''Wheeler’s Dental Anatomy, Physiology, and Occlusion.'' 8th edition. {{Tooth anatomy Types of teeth Human mouth anatomy