What does it mean when the dentist says all these different numbers?!
Question: What does it mean when the dentist says all these different numbers!?
When your at the dentist and there's someone else sitting at a computer, your dentist says all these weird things to him/her like ''lower 12 a bit chipped" or "upper 6!.!. blabla!." What does it all mean!?Www@Answer-Health@Com
Answers:
Just like the other answerer said, each tooth in your mouth has a unique number!. You have 32 adult teeth (some of them may not all be present!. Like if you've had 4 wisdom teeth extracted, you'd be missing 1, 16, 17, and 32!.) The teeth start in the upper right, move across the upper jaw, then go down to the lower left and count through so that the last tooth on the lower RIGHT is 32!.
After they identify the tooth, they may say something about it to mark in the record!. First they'll say what area of the tooth they are referring to!. Every surface has a name!. You may hear him or her say "MO" or "DIF!." They all stand for the various surfaces!. Here is an article that summarizes them all, or else it'd take a while to list them:
http://www!.simplestepsdental!.com/SS/ihtS!.!.!.
Once the surface is recorded, the dentist will say what is interesting about that surface!. If he or she says "MO amalgam on 14" it means that you already have an amalgam filling on the mesioocclusal (MO) surface of your upper left first molar!. As you can see, it's faster to use the code!.
If you hear the word "caries", that is dental speak for decay!. They'll usually say something like "M caries on 11!."
Other words they may say:
Periapical: The tissues around the tip of the root
Radiolucency: An area that looks dark on an xray, which means there has been a loss of tissue there (like an abscess that eats away at bone)
Radiopacity: An area that's light on an xray (metal fillings look light because they're very dense)
Recession: Gum has receded away from the tooth
Bone loss: The bone that the tooth sits in has become lost, from various reasons (usually periodontitis)
Calculus: Tartar, or plaque that has become calcified
That's all I can think of now, but you have every right to ask the dentist to explain all the findings! Just wait until the exam is over so everything can be written down, and ask for him or her to go through it all in detail!. :)Www@Answer-Health@Com
After they identify the tooth, they may say something about it to mark in the record!. First they'll say what area of the tooth they are referring to!. Every surface has a name!. You may hear him or her say "MO" or "DIF!." They all stand for the various surfaces!. Here is an article that summarizes them all, or else it'd take a while to list them:
http://www!.simplestepsdental!.com/SS/ihtS!.!.!.
Once the surface is recorded, the dentist will say what is interesting about that surface!. If he or she says "MO amalgam on 14" it means that you already have an amalgam filling on the mesioocclusal (MO) surface of your upper left first molar!. As you can see, it's faster to use the code!.
If you hear the word "caries", that is dental speak for decay!. They'll usually say something like "M caries on 11!."
Other words they may say:
Periapical: The tissues around the tip of the root
Radiolucency: An area that looks dark on an xray, which means there has been a loss of tissue there (like an abscess that eats away at bone)
Radiopacity: An area that's light on an xray (metal fillings look light because they're very dense)
Recession: Gum has receded away from the tooth
Bone loss: The bone that the tooth sits in has become lost, from various reasons (usually periodontitis)
Calculus: Tartar, or plaque that has become calcified
That's all I can think of now, but you have every right to ask the dentist to explain all the findings! Just wait until the exam is over so everything can be written down, and ask for him or her to go through it all in detail!. :)Www@Answer-Health@Com
They're a number system to identify teeth!. They record the teeth so they can find them straight away based on the number than the description!.
Analogy: Imagine a having to pick from a line of 32 people the one with the scar on the cheek - you'd have to go and look at all of them until you found the one you wanted!. This, as opposed to being told to go to person 17, who has a scar on their cheek!. You'd just go to the 17th person down the line and then verify the description!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
Analogy: Imagine a having to pick from a line of 32 people the one with the scar on the cheek - you'd have to go and look at all of them until you found the one you wanted!. This, as opposed to being told to go to person 17, who has a scar on their cheek!. You'd just go to the 17th person down the line and then verify the description!.Www@Answer-Health@Com