Maxillary lateral incisor

Maxillary lateral incisor
Maxillary lateral incisors of permanent and primary teeth marked in red.

The Maxillary lateral incisor is a tooth that is located distally (away from the midline of the face) from both maxillary central incisors of the mouth and mesially (toward the midline of the face) from both maxillary canines. As with all incisors, their function is for shearing or cutting food during mastication, commonly known as chewing. There are no cusps on the teeth. Instead, the surface area of the tooth used in eating is called an incisal ridge or incisal edge. Though relatively the same, there are some minor differences between the deciduous (baby) maxillary lateral incisor and that of the permanent maxillary lateral incisor.

In the universal system of notation, the deciduous maxillary lateral incisors are designated by a letter written in uppercase. The right deciduous maxillary lateral incisor is known as "D", and the left one is known as "G". The international notation has a different system of notation. Thus, the right deciduous maxillary lateral incisor known as "52", and the left one is known as "62".

In the universal system of notation, the permanent maxillary lateral incisors are designated by a number. The right permanent maxillary lateral incisor is known as "7", and the left one is known as "10". In the Palmer notation, a number is used in conjunction with a symbol designating in which quadrant the tooth is found. For this tooth, the left and right lateral incisors would have the same number, "2", but the right one would have the symbol, "┘", underneath it, while the left one would have, "└". The FDI notation has a different numbering system than the previous two, and the right permanent maxillary lateral incisor is known as "12", and the left one is known as "22".

References

• Ash, Major M. and Stanley J. Nelson, 2003. Wheeler’s Dental Anatomy, Physiology, and Occlusion. 8th edition.