Pearls:

If a patient presents to the Urgent Care with an avulsed tooth, place it in milk as soon as possible to maintain viability.

BACKGROUND

Primary teeth are deciduous teeth. They are the first teeth that come in, your baby teeth. There are 20 primary teeth.

Primary teeth are replaced by 32 permanent, or secondary teeth.

If you have a tooth avulsion of a primary tooth, you should not attempt to replant them because they interfere with the eruption of the secondary teeth.

To remember dental numbering for permanent teeth use the mnemonic “upright, so you start at the top right.” Thus, the top right wisdom tooth is considered tooth number 1, and as you move to the left side of the top of the mouth you will reach tooth number 16.

Instead of using the numbering system you can also use the tooth name. Your front teeth are central incisors, then moving out you have your lateral incisors also known as your canine teeth, then you have two premolars and three molars with the third molar being the wisdom tooth.