Palmer notation
Encyclopedia
Palmer notation is a system used by dentists to associate information to a specific tooth. Although supposedly superseded by the FDI World Dental Federation notation
, it overwhelmingly continues to be the preferred method used by orthodontists, dental students and practitioners in the United Kingdom
.
It was originally termed the Zsigmondy system after the Hungarian dentist Adolf Zsigmondy
who developed the idea in 1861, using a Zsigmondy cross to record quadrants of tooth positions.. Adult teeth were numbered 1 to 8, and the child primary dentition (also called deciduous, milk or baby teeth) were depicted with a quadrant grid using Roman numerals I, II, III, IV, V to number the teeth from the midline. Palmer changed this to A, B, C, D, E. This makes it less confusing and less prone to errors in interpretation.
The Palmer notation consists of a symbol (┘└ ┐┌) designating in which quadrant the tooth is found and a number indicating the position from the midline. Adult teeth are numbered 1 to 8, with deciduous (baby) teeth indicated by a letter A to E. Hence the left and right maxillary central incisor would have the same number, "1", but the right one would have the symbol, "┘", underneath it, while the left one would have, "└".
With the move from written dental notes to electronic records, some difficulty in reproducing the symbols has been encountered.
On a standard keyboard 'slash' and 'backslash' may be used as a crude approximation to the symbols with numbers placed before or afterwards; hence 3/ is 3┘ and /5 is ┌5
Daniel Johnson has put together a Palmer Tooth Notation TrueType font called FreePalmer. It can be downloaded:
It is covered by the GPL 3 license. This font is descended from FreeSans, part of the A screenshot showing it working in OpenOffice can be seen here: A derivative which enables the grid patterns to be produced that correspond to
handwritten Palmer tooth notations is available for download as well
One advantage of Palmer notation is that it can produce a very graphical image, akin to a 'map' of the dentition; tooth transpositions or edentulous spaces can easily be depicted if desired. It would also be feasible to introduce additional alphabetic characters or other symbols, for example to denote supernumerary
teeth or bridge pontics, to which a purely numerical method such as the FDI system does not lend itself easily.
It is requested that someone upload the following images to Wikimedia Commons
, but without changing the file names:
----
FDI World Dental Federation notation
FDI World Dental Federation notation is widely used by dentists internationally to associate information to a specific tooth.Developed by the FDI World Dental Federation, World Dental Federation notation is also known as ISO 3950 notation....
, it overwhelmingly continues to be the preferred method used by orthodontists, dental students and practitioners in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
It was originally termed the Zsigmondy system after the Hungarian dentist Adolf Zsigmondy
Adolf Zsigmondy
Adolf Zsigmondy, aka Adolph Zsigmondy was a dentist of Hungarian origin who lived in Vienna. It was he who conceived the idea of charting teeth on the Zsigmondy-cross...
who developed the idea in 1861, using a Zsigmondy cross to record quadrants of tooth positions.. Adult teeth were numbered 1 to 8, and the child primary dentition (also called deciduous, milk or baby teeth) were depicted with a quadrant grid using Roman numerals I, II, III, IV, V to number the teeth from the midline. Palmer changed this to A, B, C, D, E. This makes it less confusing and less prone to errors in interpretation.
The Palmer notation consists of a symbol (┘└ ┐┌) designating in which quadrant the tooth is found and a number indicating the position from the midline. Adult teeth are numbered 1 to 8, with deciduous (baby) teeth indicated by a letter A to E. Hence the left and right maxillary central incisor would have the same number, "1", but the right one would have the symbol, "┘", underneath it, while the left one would have, "└".
Table of codes
Orientation of the chart is traditionally "dentist's view", i.e. patient's right corresponds to notation chart left. The designations "left" and "right" on the chart, however, nonetheless correspond to the patient's left and right, respectively.| Permanent Teeth | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| upper right | upper left | ||||||||||||||
| 8┘ | 7┘ | 6┘ | 5┘ | 4┘ | 3┘ | 2┘ | 1┘ | └1 | └2 | └3 | └4 | └5 | └6 | └7 | └8 |
| 8┐ | 7┐ | 6┐ | 5┐ | 4┐ | 3┐ | 2┐ | 1┐ | ┌1 | ┌2 | ┌3 | ┌4 | ┌5 | ┌6 | ┌7 | ┌8 |
| lower right | lower left | ||||||||||||||
| Deciduous teeth (baby teeth) | |||||||||||||||
| upper right | upper left | ||||||||||||||
| E┘ | D┘ | C┘ | B┘ | A┘ | └A | └B | └C | └D | └E | ||||||
| E┐ | D┐ | C┐ | B┐ | A┐ | ┌A | ┌B | ┌C | ┌D | ┌E | ||||||
| lower right | lower left | ||||||||||||||
With the move from written dental notes to electronic records, some difficulty in reproducing the symbols has been encountered.
On a standard keyboard 'slash' and 'backslash' may be used as a crude approximation to the symbols with numbers placed before or afterwards; hence 3/ is 3┘ and /5 is ┌5
Daniel Johnson has put together a Palmer Tooth Notation TrueType font called FreePalmer. It can be downloaded:
It is covered by the GPL 3 license. This font is descended from FreeSans, part of the A screenshot showing it working in OpenOffice can be seen here: A derivative which enables the grid patterns to be produced that correspond to
handwritten Palmer tooth notations is available for download as well
One advantage of Palmer notation is that it can produce a very graphical image, akin to a 'map' of the dentition; tooth transpositions or edentulous spaces can easily be depicted if desired. It would also be feasible to introduce additional alphabetic characters or other symbols, for example to denote supernumerary
Supernumerary body part
Supernumerary body parts are most commonly a congenital disorder involving the growth of an additional part of the body and a deviation from the body plan. Body parts may be easily visible or hidden away, such as internal organs....
teeth or bridge pontics, to which a purely numerical method such as the FDI system does not lend itself easily.
It is requested that someone upload the following images to Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons is an online repository of free-use images, sound and other media files. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation....
, but without changing the file names:
See also
- Dental notationDental notationDentists, in writing or speech, use several different dental notation systems for associating information to a specific tooth. The three most common systems are the FDI World Dental Federation notation, Universal numbering system , and Palmer notation method...
- FDI World Dental Federation notationFDI World Dental Federation notationFDI World Dental Federation notation is widely used by dentists internationally to associate information to a specific tooth.Developed by the FDI World Dental Federation, World Dental Federation notation is also known as ISO 3950 notation....
- Universal numbering systemUniversal numbering system (dental)The Universal numbering system is a dental notation system for associating information to a specific tooth, and is commonly used in the United States.The designations "left" and "right" on the chart correspond to the patient's left and right, respectively....