Glossary of dentistry
This is a list of definitions of commonly used terms of location and direction in dentistry. This set of terms provides orientation within the oral cavity, much as anatomical terms of location provide orientation throughout the body.
Terms
[Image:Directions.jpg|300px|thumb|right|This X-ray film depicts some of the teeth in the lower right quadrant. The arrows point in the following directions: distal ←, mesial →, coronal ↑, apical ↓.]Combining of terms
Image:MO inlay of 3.jpg|200px|thumb|right|This photo shows teeth #2-5. Tooth #3, the upper right first molar, has an MO gold inlay. This molar is both posterior, as well as distal, to the premolars in front of it.Most of the principal terms can be combined using their corresponding combining forms. They provide names for directions and axes; for example, the coronoapical axis is the long axis of a tooth. Such combining yields terms such as those in the following list. The abbreviations should be used only in restricted contexts, where they are explicitly defined and help avoid extensive repetition. The abbreviations are ambiguous: they are not specific to these terms; they are not even one-to-one specific within this list; and some of the combined terms are little used, and the abbreviations of the latter are even less used. Therefore, spelling out is best.
The combined terms include apicocoronal, buccoapical, buccocervical, buccogingival, buccolabial, buccolingual, bucco-occlusal, buccopalatal, coronoapical, distoapical, distobuccal, distocervical, distocoronal, distogingival, distolingual, disto-occlusal or distocclusal, distopalatal, linguobuccal, linguo-occlusal, mesioapical, mesiobuccal, mesiocervical, mesiocoronal, mesiodistal, mesiogingival, mesio-occlusal or mesiocclusal, mesiopalatal.