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Premolar



Premolar
The permanent teeth, viewed from the right.
Permanent teeth of right half of lower dental arch, seen from above.
Latin dentes premolares
Gray's subject #242 1118
MeSH Premolar
Dorlands/Elsevier t_13/12813062

The premolar teeth or bicuspids are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant, making eight premolars total in the mouth. They have at least two cusps. Premolars can be considered as a 'transitional tooth' during chewing, or mastication. It has properties of both the anterior canines and posterior molars, and so food can be transferred from the canines to the premolars and finally to the molars for grinding, instead of directly from the canines to the molars.

The premolars in humans are the maxillary first premolar, maxillary second premolar, mandibular first premolar, and the mandibular second premolar.

There is always one large buccal cusp, especially so in the mandibular first premolar. The lower second premolar always presents with two lingual cusps.

Premolar teeth by definition are permanent teeth distal to the canines preceded by deciduous molars. In primitive mammals there are four premolars per quadrant. The most mesial two have been lost in New World monkeys, apes, and humans. Paleontologists refer to human premolars as Pm3 and Pm4.

Additional images

 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Premolar". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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