Commonly used terms of relationship and com-
parison in dentistry
There are numerous commonly used terms of relation-
ship and comparison that refer to different aspects of
teeth and are frequently utilized in articles about
dentistry. Many of them are included below as a sort of
glossary to assist with understanding the many articles
that include these types of words.
Terms
This X-ray film depicts the teeth in the lower right quadrant.
The arrows point in the following directions: distal←, me-
sial→, coronal ↑, apical ↓.
Anterior refers to the direction towards an individuals
lips, as opposed to posterior, which refers to the direc-
tions towards the back of an individual’s head. The term
anterior teeth refers to incisors and canines, as opposed
to premolars and molars, which are posterior teeth.
Apical refers to the direction towards the root tip(s)
of a tooth, as opposed to coronal, which refers to the dir-
ection towards the crown. It may also refer to something
relating to the roots, such as apical support. This term is
nearly synonymous with both cervical and gingival.
Axial refers to a plane parallel to the surface of a
tooth. For example, if a drill bur would be inserted into a
tooth from any side (proximal, facial or lingual), the depth
of the hole is defined by the axial wall of the hole.
Buccal refers to the side of a tooth that is adjacent to
(or the direction towards) the inside of the cheek, as op-
posed to lingual or palatal, which refer to the side of a
tooth adjacent to (or the direction towards) the tongue
or palate, respectively. Although technically referring
only to posterior teeth (where the cheeks are present in-
stead of lips, use of this term may extend to all teeth, an-
terior and posterior), this term may be employed to de-
scribe the facial surface of (or directions in relation to)
anterior teeth as well.
Cervical, which simply means neck in Latin (as in cer-
vical vertebrae), refers to the narrowing of the contours
of the tooth surface at or near the CEJ, where the crown
meets the roo