Demystifying the Dental Formula 

Study Session Saturday:
Kendra the Vet Tech (LVT) goes over how to understand the dental formula. The dental formula lays out what types of teeth and how many of each are present in any given species. The dental formula does vary from species to species, and most mammals have a set of deciduous (baby) teeth and a set of permanent (adult) teeth. The baby teeth are usually less in number than the adult teeth. It is important to understand how many of each type of teeth are present in the mouth of the species you are working with. After all, we must first be able to recognize and understand normal before we can recognize abnormal. We will be working with an adult canine dental formula: 2(I3/3,C1/1,P4/4,M2/3)=42 teeth
When looking at the dental formula, the numbers that are present inside the parenthesis are: I=Incisor, C=Canine, P=Premolar, M=Molar. The numbers that follow are stating how many of each of those respective teeth are in the maxilla (upper jaw) and mandible (lower jaw). The number in front of the slash represents the maxilla and the number after the slash represents the mandible.
I 3/3 = 3 incisors maxilla, 3 incisors mandible
C 1/1 = 1 canine maxilla, 1 canine mandible
P 4/4 = 4 premolars maxilla, 4 premolars mandible
M 2/3 = 2 molars maxilla, 3 molars mandible
The next step in understanding the equation is figuring how many teeth are present. The numbers inside the parenthesis will all add together to represent upper and lower teeth on one side (right or left) of your patient. Once all the numbers in the parenthesis have been added up, take this sum times 2 (number outside of the parenthesis, to get the total number of teeth. It is multiplied by 2 since you patient has 2 sides (right and left).
Tune in next week to learn about the Triadan Numbering System!