# ChartCall, full reference text > Every guide, the glossary and the FAQ from https://chartcall-web.pages.dev, converted from the published pages at build time. The short index is at https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/llms.txt. For dental assisting and dental hygiene students # Hear the callout. Chart it. See exactly what you missed. ChartCall speaks charting callouts the way an operator dictates them, "number 3, MOD amalgam", "14 DO caries", "number 30, missing", and you chart each one on the odontogram. Every finding is graded on the tooth, the surfaces and the material, and a miss is named, not just marked wrong. ## How it works - **Listen.** Your browser speaks the callout. Set the voice and the speed, replay it if you need to, and hide the captions when you are ready for the real thing. - **Chart.** Pick the tooth on the odontogram, tap the surfaces, choose the material or condition, and press Chart it. Every step works from the keyboard as well. - **See the miss.** Wrong tooth, a surface left off, an extra surface, or composite where the call was amalgam: the feedback says which, and shows the correct entry on the chart. ## Who it is for Students in dental assisting and dental hygiene programs who chart from dictation in clinic, and the instructors who teach it. Projection mode puts a large odontogram on the lab screen, plays the callouts to the room, keeps the answers hidden until you reveal them, and prints an answer key for the case. ChartCall is a study aid, not a clinical record. Every case is invented for practice and no real patient data is used. ## What is inside - 60 invented patients and 363 findings: fillings, decay, crowns, bridges, implants, extractions and primary teeth. - Callouts phrased the way operators say them, tooth first or finding first, letters or words. - Universal numbering, with a switch to FDI for the chart and the spoken callouts. - A [glossary](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/glossary/) of every material and condition, and a [guide](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/guide/) to how callouts are dictated. - Progress kept in your browser, with a JSON export. No account, nothing uploaded. ## For veterinary technology students: dogs and cats The same drill runs on a canine chart of 42 teeth and a feline chart of 30, numbered in modified Triadan, with deciduous charts for puppies and kittens. The callouts are the ones a veterinarian makes during a COHAT: "one oh four, fractured, pulp exposed", "three oh nine, mobility two", "left mandibular first molar, furcation two". Grades are checked as grades, so mobility 1 for mobility 2 is named as a wrong grade. - 18 invented dogs with 117 findings and 18 invented cats with 112 findings: mobility, furcation, calculus and gingival index grades, recession, fractures with and without pulp exposure, resorption stages, retained deciduous teeth, extractions and more. - A free daily drill for each species, and free periodontal practice, with its own progress per species. - Switch charts at the top of the drill, practice, exam or projection page. The [guide](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/guide/#veterinary) explains how Triadan numbers are said, and the [glossary](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/glossary/#veterinary) lists every finding and every tooth. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is ChartCall? A listening drill for dental charting. Your browser speaks a callout the way an operator dictates it, such as "number 3, MOD amalgam", you chart it on the odontogram, and ChartCall grades the tooth, the surfaces and the material or condition separately and names whichever you missed. ### Is it free? Yes. Everything on the site is free, with no account: the daily drills, every practice category on the human, dog and cat charts, the timed exam of 40 callouts, projection mode, the session history, the glossary and the guide. There is no paid plan. ### Does it cover veterinary dental charting? Yes. Switch the chart to canine or feline at the top of the drill, practice, exam or projection page. The dog chart has 42 permanent teeth and the cat chart 30, both in modified Triadan numbering, with deciduous charts for puppies and kittens. There are 36 invented dogs and cats with 229 findings, called the way a veterinarian dictates during a COHAT. ### Are the patients real? No. All 60 human cases with 363 findings, and all 36 dog and cat cases, are invented for practice. No real patient data is used anywhere, and nothing you chart here is a clinical record. ### Is it affiliated with a board or an exam? ChartCall is not affiliated with any dental board, exam body, school or professional association. That includes veterinary boards, veterinary dental organisations and technician credentialing bodies. It is an independent study aid and does not reproduce any exam content. --- Guide, free # How charting callouts are dictated In clinic the operator examines the mouth and says what they see, and the person charting writes it down as fast as it is said. This guide explains how those callouts are put together, so that what you hear maps straight onto the chart. Conventions differ between programs and offices; where they do, it says so, and your program's way wins. ## Who is talking, and why it is fast During an examination the dentist or hygienist, the operator, has both hands in the mouth: a mirror in one and an explorer or probe in the other. They cannot write, so they speak. The assistant or a second clinician records each finding as it is called. The operator does not wait for you. They move from tooth to tooth at the pace of the exam, and a good recorder keeps up without asking for repeats. That is the skill this site drills: hearing a short, compressed phrase and turning it into a correct chart entry without stopping to think about the parts. ## The order of an exam Most operators call a mouth in the same order the Universal system numbers it. They start at the upper right third molar, number 1, work across the upper arch to number 16, drop to the lower left third molar, number 17, and come back along the lower arch to number 32. Teeth with nothing to report are skipped. So a chart is usually called in rising numbers, and if you hear 14 you can expect the next callout to be 14 or higher. ChartCall plays every case in this order. When an operator jumps back, it is usually to add something they missed, and they will say the tooth number clearly when they do. ## The three parts of a callout Almost every callout carries three pieces of information: - **The tooth.** A number from 1 to 32, or a letter from A to T for a primary tooth. - **The surfaces**, for anything that sits on part of a tooth, such as a filling or a lesion. - **The material or condition**: amalgam, composite, caries, a crown, a missing tooth. ChartCall grades each of these separately and tells you which one you missed, because they go wrong for different reasons. A wrong tooth is usually a counting slip or a mirror image across the arch. A wrong surface is usually a mesial and distal mix up. A wrong material is usually a word you did not expect. ## Number first or finding first The same finding can be said several ways. All of these mean the same chart entry: Number 3, MOD amalgam 3 MOD amalgam MOD amalgam on number 3 Number 3, mesial occlusal distal amalgam Most operators settle into one habit, usually the tooth first, but many switch when they are adding a detail or correcting themselves. The word "number" is often dropped once the exam is under way. The drills in this site mix the phrasings on purpose, so the order stops mattering to you. ## Surfaces, and how they combine Each tooth has five surfaces. On a premolar or molar they are mesial (M, toward the midline), occlusal (O, the chewing surface), distal (D, away from the midline), buccal (B, the cheek side) and lingual (L, the tongue side). On an incisor or canine the chewing surface is an edge, so O becomes incisal (I), and the outer surface is called facial (F) instead of buccal. If you mark O on a front tooth in ChartCall, it is read as I, and B is read as F, so you are never marked down for using the back tooth letter on a front tooth. A filling that covers several surfaces is one restoration, charted once with all of its surfaces. MOD is one filling across mesial, occlusal and distal, not three fillings. The letters are written with the mesial first and the distal last when both are there, so you hear MO, DO, MOD, MODB and MODBL. When only one side is involved the proximal surface still leads: DO, not OD. A single surface is usually said as a word, "occlusal composite" or "buccal amalgam", and two or more are usually spelled as letters, "M O D". Mesial and distal are the most common surface misses. Mesial always faces the midline of the arch, which is between the two central incisors. On a chart the patient's right side is drawn on your left, so for teeth 1 to 8 and 25 to 32 the mesial surface is on the right of each tooth diagram, and for teeth 9 to 24 it is on the left. If that feels backwards, picture yourself facing the patient. ## Materials and conditions Existing work is named by its material: amalgam (some operators say alloy), composite (or resin), glass ionomer, gold inlay or onlay, a temporary. Crowns are named by what they are made of, and the abbreviations are spoken as letters: a PFM crown is porcelain fused to metal, an SSC is a stainless steel crown. Whole tooth findings need no surfaces: missing, implant, root canal (RCT, or endo), sealant, pontic, pulpotomy. Findings that need treatment or attention are usually called with the word that says so: caries or decay, recurrent decay under an existing filling, fractured, to be extracted, watch. Many charts record these in red and existing work in blue or black, so the treatment plan stands out. ChartCall draws them the same way, and gives every mark its own shape as well, so nothing depends on colour alone. The [glossary](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/glossary/) lists every finding with its abbreviation and the other words you may hear for it. ## Two findings on one tooth A tooth can carry more than one finding, and each is called on its own. A root treated molar with a crown is two callouts: "number 19, root canal" and then "number 19, PFM crown". A bridge is called one unit at a time: the crowned teeth on either side, the abutments, as crowns, and the replaced tooth in the middle as a pontic. A missing tooth, though, carries nothing else, and an implant replaces the tooth it stands in for. ## Primary teeth and mixed dentition Primary teeth are lettered A to T along the same path: A is the upper right second primary molar, J the upper left, K the lower left and T the lower right. Because a letter on its own is easy to mishear, operators usually say "letter A" or "tooth A" rather than just "A". The findings that come up most with children are sealants, stainless steel crowns and pulpotomies. A pulpotomy and a stainless steel crown are usually called together on the same molar; a sealant goes on a different, sound tooth, not under a crown. ## FDI numbering Outside the United States, and in some programs, teeth are numbered in the FDI two digit system. The first digit is the quadrant, 1 to 4 for permanent teeth and 5 to 8 for primary, and the second counts back from the midline. Universal 3 is FDI 16, and it is said "one six", never "sixteen". Switch the drills to FDI with the numbering toggle and both the chart and the spoken callouts follow. The full conversion table is at the foot of the [glossary](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/glossary/#numbering). ## Keeping up - Find the tooth first. The number comes first in most callouts, and a chart entry on the wrong tooth is wrong however good the rest is. - Hold the surfaces as one chunk. "M O D" is one word to an experienced recorder, not three letters. - Listen for the order of the exam. If the last callout was 14, the next one is almost always 14 or higher. - Chart first, tidy later. If you miss a word, chart what you heard and ask for the one missing piece at a natural pause, not in the middle of the operator's sentence. - Practise with captions on, then turn them off. Then raise the speed. The exam mode hides captions entirely. ## Veterinary charting: callouts during a COHAT In a veterinary clinic the charting happens during the COHAT, the comprehensive oral health assessment and treatment, with the dog or cat under general anaesthesia. The veterinarian probes each tooth, reads the radiographs and calls what they find, and a technician or assistant charts it. Many clinics call this four handed dentistry. The pace is the same as in a human clinic: the clinician does not wait, so the person charting has to turn a short phrase into a chart entry at once. Switch the drill, practice, exam or projection mode to the canine or feline chart with the switch at the top of the page. ### Triadan numbers, and how they are said Dogs and cats are charted in modified Triadan numbering. Every tooth has three digits: the quadrant, then the position counted back from the midline. Quadrant 1 is the right upper jaw, 2 the left upper, 3 the left lower and 4 the right lower, and 5 to 8 are the same four quadrants for deciduous teeth. The canine tooth is always 04 and the first molar always 09, so 104 is the right upper canine and 309 the left lower first molar. A cat has fewer premolars than a dog, but the missing positions are skipped rather than renumbered: a cat has no 105, and its lower premolars are 307 and 308. The number is said as the quadrant and then the position. 104 is "one oh four", 309 is "three oh nine", 110 is "one ten" and 411 is "four eleven". Most clinicians say the number first and leave out the word tooth, but some name the tooth instead: "left mandibular first molar, furcation two" means 309. ChartCall mixes these, so you learn to hear both. One oh four, fractured, pulp exposed Three oh nine, mobility two Complicated crown fracture on 104 Left mandibular first molar, furcation two ### The order of a veterinary chart ChartCall plays each patient in Triadan order: quadrant 1 from 101 back to the last molar, then quadrant 2, 3 and 4. Some clinics go round the mouth instead, following the arch from the right upper molars to the left, then back along the lower jaw. Either way a clinician rarely jumps about, and when they do they say the number clearly. ### Grades and scales Much of a veterinary chart is a grade on a scale rather than a material: mobility 1 to 3, furcation 1 to 3, calculus index 1 to 3, gingival index 1 to 3, and tooth resorption stages 1 to 5. The grade is said as a word, "mobility two", and written as a number. ChartCall grades the tooth and the finding separately as it does for human teeth, and when the finding is right but the value is not, it says so: "Grade: you charted mobility 1, the callout was mobility 2." Furcation is only charted on a tooth with two or more roots, so a canine tooth or an incisor never has one. ### Surfaces on a dog or cat tooth Veterinary charts name surfaces a little differently. The outer surface is labial on incisors and canines and buccal on premolars and molars. The inner surface is palatal on every upper tooth and lingual on every lower tooth. Mesial and distal work as they do for people. Only teeth with a true grinding surface have an occlusal surface, which in ChartCall means the dog's molars. Surfaces are usually said as words: "three oh nine, buccal gingival recession". On the chart, press B for labial or buccal and L or P for the inner surface; ChartCall puts it on the surface that tooth has. ### Fractures, resorption and baby teeth A fractured tooth is called by whether the pulp is exposed, because that decides the treatment. "Fractured, pulp exposed" or a complicated crown fracture needs root canal treatment or extraction; "fractured, no pulp exposure" is an uncomplicated crown fracture. Tooth resorption, very common in cats, is called with its stage from the radiograph. A baby tooth still present beside its adult replacement is called on its deciduous number: a persistent baby canine in the right upper jaw is 504, not 104, and the puppy or kitten cases in ChartCall are charted on the deciduous chart. When a tooth comes out during the procedure it is called as extracted, usually right after the finding that led to it. ## What this site is and is not ChartCall is a study aid for learning to hear and chart callouts. It is not charting software and not a clinical record, and every case in it is invented. The phrasing it uses is written to match the common patterns described above, but the operator you work with will have habits of their own, and the conventions your program teaches come first. Last reviewed 26 September 2026. First published 25 September 2026. --- Reference, free # Dental charting abbreviations and symbols, explained A dental chart is written in three kinds of shorthand. **Surface letters** say where on the tooth: M mesial, O occlusal, D distal, B buccal, L lingual, and I incisal and F facial on front teeth. They are combined into one code for one restoration, so MOD is a single filling across the mesial, occlusal and distal surfaces. **Material and condition abbreviations** say what is there: Am amalgam, Comp composite, PFM porcelain fused to metal crown, SSC stainless steel crown, RCT root canal treatment. **Symbols and colours** say it at a glance: an X through a missing tooth, a line down a treated root, blue or black for work already done and red for work still needed. ## Surface letters Every surface finding starts with these letters. On a premolar or molar the chewing surface is occlusal and the cheek side is buccal; on an incisor or canine the edge is incisal and the lip side is facial. Some charts use F for the outer surface of every tooth and P, palatal, for the inside of upper teeth. Table: Surface letters on a human chart | Letter | Surface | | --- | --- | | M | mesial | | O | occlusal | | I | incisal | | D | distal | | B | buccal | | F | facial | | L | lingual | Combined codes follow a fixed order: the proximal surface first, the biting surface next, distal last when both proximal surfaces are involved, then buccal or facial, then lingual. That is why you see MO, DO, MOD and MODBL, and never OD. The [surface order guide](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/guide/tooth-surface-order/) walks through it step by step. ## Materials, conditions and their symbols The table lists every finding a ChartCall callout can name, with the abbreviation you will see written, the colour it is charted in, and how the odontogram draws it. Paper charts in your program may use a slightly different mark for the same finding, but the idea is the same: surface findings are filled in on the surfaces they cover, and whole tooth findings are drawn across the tooth outline or its roots. Table: Human chart findings | Abbreviation | Meaning | Colour | Drawn in ChartCall as | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Am | Amalgam | Blue, existing | Surfaces filled in solid | | Comp | Composite | Blue, existing | Surfaces hatched | | GI | Glass ionomer | Blue, existing | Surfaces dotted | | Au inlay | Gold inlay or onlay | Blue, existing | Surfaces cross hatched | | Temp | Temporary filling | Blue, existing | Surfaces outlined only | | Car | Caries | Red, needed | Surfaces filled in solid | | Rec car | Recurrent caries | Red, needed | Surfaces hatched | | PFM | Porcelain fused to metal crown | Blue, existing | Crown outlined | | FGC | Full gold crown | Blue, existing | Crown outlined | | Cer | All ceramic crown | Blue, existing | Crown outlined | | SSC | Stainless steel crown | Blue, existing | Crown outlined | | X | Missing | Blue, existing | Large X through the whole tooth | | Ext | Extraction indicated | Red, needed | Two parallel lines through the tooth | | RCT | Root canal treatment | Blue, existing | Line down each root | | Imp | Implant | Blue, existing | Short horizontal lines across the root, like screw threads | | S | Sealant | Blue, existing | Letter S on the biting surface | | W | Watch | Red, needed | Letter W on the tooth | | Pontic | Bridge pontic | Blue, existing | Crown outlined, root crossed out | | Pulp | Pulpotomy | Blue, existing | Dot in the pulp chamber | | Fx | Fractured tooth | Red, needed | Zigzag across the crown | ## Red and blue: existing work and needed work The most useful symbol on a chart is its colour. A common convention charts what is already in the mouth, existing fillings, crowns, implants and root canals, in blue or black, and what still needs doing, decay, recurrent decay, a fracture or a tooth to be extracted, in red. When the red work is completed it is charted again in blue. The treatment plan is then the red on the chart. Because some readers cannot tell red from blue, ChartCall also gives every mark its own shape, and so should any chart you design. ## Worked example: reading one written entry Suppose a chart shows #30 MOD Am in blue and #30 DB Car in red. Read it part by part. #30 is the lower right first molar in Universal numbering. MOD Am in blue is an existing amalgam filling across the mesial, occlusal and distal surfaces, drawn solid on those three surfaces. DB Car in red is decay on the distal and buccal surfaces that still needs treatment. Spoken aloud chairside, those two entries would be "number 30, MOD amalgam" and "30, DB caries". Two findings on one tooth are charted separately, each with its own colour. ## Common mistakes - Writing a three surface filling as three fillings, M, O and D, instead of one MOD restoration. - Writing OD or OM. The proximal surface leads: DO and MO. - Using O or B on a front tooth. Incisors and canines take I and F. - Charting a missing tooth and a tooth planned for extraction with the same X. One is gone; the other is present and red. - Reading GI as gingival index on a human chart. On a human chart GI is glass ionomer; on a veterinary chart it is the gingival index. - Leaving recurrent decay under an existing filling as plain caries, which hides the failing restoration. ## Veterinary chart abbreviations Dog and cat charts add grades and conditions that human charts rarely use: mobility, furcation, calculus and gingival indices, tooth resorption stages and fracture types. Most are written as an abbreviation plus the grade, such as MOB2 or TR3, beside the tooth. Numbering is modified Triadan; see the [Triadan numbering guide](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/guide/triadan-numbering/). Table: Dog and cat chart findings | Abbreviation | Meaning | Colour | Drawn in ChartCall as | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | MOB1 | Mobility 1 | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | MOB2 | Mobility 2 | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | MOB3 | Mobility 3 | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | F1 | Furcation 1 | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | F2 | Furcation 2 | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | F3 | Furcation 3 | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | CI1 | Calculus index 1 | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | CI2 | Calculus index 2 | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | CI3 | Calculus index 3 | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | GI1 | Gingival index 1 | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | GI2 | Gingival index 2 | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | GI3 | Gingival index 3 | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | GR | Gingival recession | Red, needed | Surfaces hatched | | CCF | Complicated crown fracture | Red, needed | Zigzag across the crown with a dot for the exposed pulp | | UCF | Uncomplicated crown fracture | Red, needed | Zigzag across the crown | | AT or AB | Worn tooth | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | CA | Caries | Red, needed | Surfaces filled in solid | | DT | Discoloured tooth | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | EH | Enamel hypoplasia | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | TR1 | Tooth resorption stage 1 | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | TR2 | Tooth resorption stage 2 | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | TR3 | Tooth resorption stage 3 | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | TR4 | Tooth resorption stage 4 | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | TR5 | Tooth resorption stage 5 | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | O | Missing tooth | Blue, existing | Circle around the tooth | | X | Extracted | Blue, existing | Large X through the whole tooth | | RTR | Retained root | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | RD | Retained deciduous tooth | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | SN | Supernumerary tooth | Red, needed | Written as a tag beside the tooth | | CR | Prosthetic crown | Blue, existing | Crown outlined | | R | Composite restoration | Blue, existing | Surfaces cross hatched | | RCT | Root canal treatment | Blue, existing | Line down each root | Every entry here has a longer definition, and the other words an operator may say for it, in the [dental charting glossary](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/glossary/). To hear these abbreviations spoken and chart them against the clock, try the [free daily charting drill](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/drill/). ## Sources Checked against these sources on 26 September 2026. Conventions differ between schools, offices and clinics; where yours differ, follow your program. - **Dental assisting textbooks.** The charting chapters of the standard dental assisting texts used in accredited programs, such as Modern Dental Assisting (Elsevier), which describe surface letters, red and blue charting and the common symbols. - **Black's cavity classification.** The class I to V grouping of cavities by location, with class VI added later, which still shapes how surfaces are named and combined. - **American Veterinary Dental College, abbreviations for use in case logs.** The published list of veterinary dental abbreviations that clinics and teaching programs commonly adapt, used here for the veterinary table. ## Frequently asked questions ### What does MOD mean on a dental chart? MOD means one restoration or lesion that covers the mesial, occlusal and distal surfaces of a back tooth. It is one filling across three surfaces, charted once, not three separate fillings. ### What is the difference between red and blue on a dental chart? Many offices chart work already in the mouth in blue or black and work that is still needed, such as decay or a planned extraction, in red. The colours are a convention, not a rule, so check the one your program uses. ### What does X mean on a dental chart? A large X through the whole tooth usually means the tooth is missing. A tooth that is still present but planned for extraction is usually marked differently, often in red with two parallel lines, so the two are not confused. ### Are dental charting abbreviations the same everywhere? No. The surface letters M, O, D, B, L, I and F are close to universal, but material abbreviations such as Comp, GI or Temp and the symbols for crowns and implants vary between textbooks, schools and software. Follow the list your program or office uses. --- Guide, free # How to chart from a callout: tooth surface order, MOD, DO and the rest Chart every surface the operator names on the one tooth, then write them as a single code in a fixed order: the proximal surface first (mesial if it is involved, otherwise distal), then occlusal or incisal, then distal when both proximal surfaces are involved, then buccal or facial, then lingual. So you write MO, DO, MOD and MODBL, never OD, and a filling across three surfaces is one MOD restoration, not three fillings. ## Step by step - **Find the tooth first.** Put your pointer on the tooth number before you think about surfaces. A perfect surface code on the wrong tooth is still a wrong entry. - **Decide whether it is a front or a back tooth.** Back teeth (premolars and molars) have an occlusal surface, O, and a buccal surface, B. Front teeth (incisors and canines) have an incisal edge, I, and a facial surface, F. - **Mark every surface you heard.** Tick each surface named in the callout on the tooth diagram. Treat a spelled group such as M O D as one restoration covering all three. - **Write the proximal surface first.** Start with mesial when it is present. If only distal is involved, start with distal instead, so the code is DO and never OD. - **Add the biting surface, then distal.** Next comes O on a back tooth or I on a front tooth, then D if both proximal surfaces are involved, which gives MO, DO and MOD. - **Finish with the outer and inner surfaces.** Add B or F, then L, at the end: MODB, MODL, MODBL. Then chart the material or condition that goes with the code. ## Why the order matters A chart is read by other people: the dentist planning treatment, the front desk building a claim, the next clinician at recall. If every recorder writes the same filling the same way, nobody has to stop and work out whether OMD and MOD are the same restoration. The order also mirrors the tooth. Mesial faces the midline of the arch, the occlusal surface is in the middle, and distal faces away from the midline, so MOD reads across the tooth from front to back. Operators do not always say the surfaces in written order. They say what they see as they see it, and you hear "occlusal distal" or "distal occlusal" for the same filling. Your job is to mark the surfaces, then write the code in the standard order, whatever order you heard. ## Front teeth and back teeth Back teeth, the premolars and molars, have five surfaces: mesial (M), occlusal (O), distal (D), buccal (B) and lingual (L). Front teeth, the incisors and canines, have an edge instead of a chewing surface and a lip side instead of a cheek side, so O becomes incisal (I) and B becomes facial (F). A front tooth filling across the mesial surface and the incisal edge is MI, and the common class IV restoration is MI or DI plus the facial or lingual surface it wraps onto. In the ChartCall drill, marking O on an incisor is read as I, so the back tooth letter is never marked wrong on a front tooth. ## Worked examples Each callout below is said in the order an operator might say it. The last column is the code you write, computed by the same rule the [daily drill](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/drill/) grades with. Table: From spoken callout to written surface code | Callout as heard | Tooth | Written code | | --- | --- | --- | | Number 3, mesial occlusal distal amalgam | 3, upper right first molar | MOD | | 14, occlusal distal composite | 14, upper left first molar | DO | | Number 19, occlusal mesial caries | 19, lower left first molar | MO | | 30, lingual distal buccal occlusal mesial amalgam | 30, lower right first molar | MODBL | | Number 8, mesial incisal composite | 8, upper right central incisor | MI | | Number 24, facial composite | 24, lower left central incisor | F | Take the fourth row. The operator lists five surfaces in a jumble on the lower right first molar. You tick all five, then write mesial first, occlusal next, distal because both proximal surfaces are involved, then buccal, then lingual: MODBL. It is still one restoration, charted once. ## Mesial and distal on the chart diagram The hardest part is usually not the letters but finding mesial on the diagram. Charts are drawn as if you face the patient, so the patient's right side is on your left. For teeth 1 to 8 and 25 to 32, the mesial surface is on the right of each tooth diagram; for teeth 9 to 24 it is on the left. If a filling lands on the wrong side, check which half of the arch the tooth is in before anything else. ## Common mistakes - Writing OD, OM or DOM. The proximal surface leads and distal goes last when both are present. - Charting MOD as three separate fillings, which triples the restoration count on the chart. - Putting the filling on the distal side of the diagram because of the chart's mirror image. - Using O and B on an incisor or canine instead of I and F. - Dropping a surface that was said once and quickly, usually the buccal or lingual at the end of the callout. - Moving on before the material is charted. The code without amalgam or composite is half an entry. For every letter and abbreviation in one place, see [dental charting abbreviations and symbols](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/guide/dental-charting-abbreviations/). ## Sources Checked against these sources on 26 September 2026. Conventions differ between schools, offices and clinics; where yours differ, follow your program. - **Dental assisting textbooks.** The charting and cavity classification chapters of the standard dental assisting texts, such as Modern Dental Assisting (Elsevier), which give the mesial first, distal last order for combined surfaces. - **Black's cavity classification.** The original grouping of cavity preparations by surface, the basis of the MO, DO and MOD names for class II restorations. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is it DO or OD? DO. By the common convention the proximal surface is written first, so a filling across the distal and occlusal surfaces is DO, and one across the mesial and occlusal surfaces is MO. ### Why is MOD written with mesial first? Surface codes are read from the front of the arch backwards across the tooth: mesial faces the midline, then the occlusal surface, then distal faces away from the midline. Writing them in that order means every recorder writes the same code for the same filling. ### Is a MOD filling three fillings? No. MOD is one restoration that covers three surfaces. It is charted once, with all three surfaces marked, and counted as one filling. ### Where do buccal and lingual go in the code? After the mesial, occlusal and distal letters: MODB, MODL and MODBL. A filling on the buccal and occlusal surfaces only is usually written OB or BO depending on the program, so check the convention you are taught. --- Reference, free # Universal vs FDI vs Palmer tooth numbering, with a conversion chart The three systems name the same 32 permanent teeth differently. **Universal**, used in the United States, numbers them 1 to 32 from the upper right third molar round to the lower right third molar. **FDI**, the international system, uses two digits: the quadrant (1 upper right, 2 upper left, 3 lower left, 4 lower right) and then the tooth counted from the midline, so the upper right first molar is 16, read one six. **Palmer** writes the tooth number 1 to 8 inside a right angle bracket that shows the quadrant, so the same tooth is UR6. Universal 3, FDI 16 and Palmer UR6 are one tooth. ## How each system counts ### Universal (ADA) Universal gives every permanent tooth its own number. Counting starts at the patient's upper right third molar, number 1, runs along the upper arch to the upper left third molar, 16, drops to the lower left third molar, 17, and runs back along the lower arch to the lower right third molar, 32. Primary teeth follow the same path with the letters A to T; see [primary teeth letters A to T](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/guide/primary-teeth-letters/). The advantage is that one number is one tooth. The drawback is that the number says nothing about the tooth type: you have to know that 3, 14, 19 and 30 are the four first molars. ### FDI two digit FDI splits the mouth into four quadrants numbered clockwise as you face the patient, starting at the upper right: 1, 2, 3, 4. Primary teeth use 5, 6, 7 and 8 in the same order. The second digit counts from the midline, 1 for the central incisor to 8 for the third molar. So every first molar ends in 6 and every canine in 3, which makes the tooth type readable from the number. Each digit is said on its own: 16 is one six, and 48 is four eight. ### Palmer Palmer also counts 1 to 8 from the midline, but shows the quadrant with a right angle drawn round the number, as if the mouth were divided by a cross and you were facing the patient. The upper right first molar is written 6 with the bracket on its right and below, 6┘. Because the brackets are awkward to type, software and notes often write UR6, UL6, LL6 and LR6. Primary teeth take the letters A to E from the midline. ## Conversion chart for the permanent teeth Right and left are the patient's. Read across a row to convert between systems. Table: Universal, FDI and Palmer, all 32 permanent teeth | Universal | FDI | Palmer | Palmer bracket | Tooth | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | 18 | UR8 | 8┘ | upper right third molar | | 2 | 17 | UR7 | 7┘ | upper right second molar | | 3 | 16 | UR6 | 6┘ | upper right first molar | | 4 | 15 | UR5 | 5┘ | upper right second premolar | | 5 | 14 | UR4 | 4┘ | upper right first premolar | | 6 | 13 | UR3 | 3┘ | upper right canine | | 7 | 12 | UR2 | 2┘ | upper right lateral incisor | | 8 | 11 | UR1 | 1┘ | upper right central incisor | | 9 | 21 | UL1 | └1 | upper left central incisor | | 10 | 22 | UL2 | └2 | upper left lateral incisor | | 11 | 23 | UL3 | └3 | upper left canine | | 12 | 24 | UL4 | └4 | upper left first premolar | | 13 | 25 | UL5 | └5 | upper left second premolar | | 14 | 26 | UL6 | └6 | upper left first molar | | 15 | 27 | UL7 | └7 | upper left second molar | | 16 | 28 | UL8 | └8 | upper left third molar | | 17 | 38 | LL8 | ┌8 | lower left third molar | | 18 | 37 | LL7 | ┌7 | lower left second molar | | 19 | 36 | LL6 | ┌6 | lower left first molar | | 20 | 35 | LL5 | ┌5 | lower left second premolar | | 21 | 34 | LL4 | ┌4 | lower left first premolar | | 22 | 33 | LL3 | ┌3 | lower left canine | | 23 | 32 | LL2 | ┌2 | lower left lateral incisor | | 24 | 31 | LL1 | ┌1 | lower left central incisor | | 25 | 41 | LR1 | 1┐ | lower right central incisor | | 26 | 42 | LR2 | 2┐ | lower right lateral incisor | | 27 | 43 | LR3 | 3┐ | lower right canine | | 28 | 44 | LR4 | 4┐ | lower right first premolar | | 29 | 45 | LR5 | 5┐ | lower right second premolar | | 30 | 46 | LR6 | 6┐ | lower right first molar | | 31 | 47 | LR7 | 7┐ | lower right second molar | | 32 | 48 | LR8 | 8┐ | lower right third molar | ## Worked example: one callout in three systems An operator in a US clinic says "number 30, MOD amalgam". Number 30 is the lower right first molar. A colleague trained on FDI charts the same tooth as 46, quadrant 4 for lower right and 6 for the first molar, and would say "four six, MOD amalgam". An orthodontic referral letter in Palmer would write LR6. To convert by hand, first name the quadrant, then count from the midline: central incisor 1, lateral 2, canine 3, premolars 4 and 5, molars 6, 7 and 8. ## Common mistakes - Reading FDI 16 as sixteen. Universal 16 is the upper left third molar; FDI 16 is the upper right first molar. - Swapping left and right. The patient's right is on your left as you face them and on a standard chart. - Counting FDI quadrants the wrong way round. 3 is lower left and 4 is lower right. - Numbering from the back in FDI or Palmer. Both count from the midline, so 1 is always a central incisor. - Switching systems partway through a chart. Pick the one your program uses and stay in it. ChartCall can label the odontogram and speak every callout in Universal or FDI, so you can drill the system your program uses. Switch it with the numbering toggle on the [daily charting drill](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/drill/). ## Sources Checked against these sources on 26 September 2026. Conventions differ between schools, offices and clinics; where yours differ, follow your program. - **ISO 3950, Dentistry: designation system for teeth and areas of the oral cavity.** The international standard for the FDI two digit notation, first adopted by the FDI World Dental Federation in 1970. - **American Dental Association, Universal Numbering System.** Adopted by the ADA in 1975 and used on US dental records, claim forms and procedure coding. - **Zsigmondy-Palmer notation.** The quadrant grid first described in 1861 and later adapted into the Palmer notation, still taught in the UK and used in orthodontics. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is tooth number 3 in FDI? Universal 3 is the upper right first molar, which is 16 in FDI notation, read one six. In Palmer notation it is the upper right 6. ### Which tooth numbering system is used in the United States? The Universal system, 1 to 32 for permanent teeth and A to T for primary teeth. The FDI two digit system is used in most other countries and in international publications. ### How do I convert Universal to FDI? Find the quadrant, then count from the midline. Universal 1 to 8 is the upper right, FDI 18 to 11; 9 to 16 is the upper left, 21 to 28; 17 to 24 is the lower left, 38 to 31; and 25 to 32 is the lower right, 41 to 48. ### Why is FDI 16 not read as sixteen? Because the two digits are separate facts, the quadrant and the tooth. Reading it as one six keeps a listener from confusing it with Universal 16, a different tooth. --- Reference, free # Primary teeth letters A to T: chart, conversions and callouts In the Universal system the 20 primary teeth are lettered A to T, in the same path as the permanent teeth. A is the upper right second primary molar, the letters run across the upper arch to J, the upper left second primary molar, then drop to K, the lower left second primary molar, and run back to T, the lower right second primary molar. Each quadrant has five teeth: two incisors, a canine and two molars. There are no primary premolars. ## The chart, letter by letter Right and left are the child's own. FDI numbers primary teeth in quadrants 5 to 8, and Palmer letters them A to E from the midline, so a Palmer A is a central incisor, not the Universal A. Table: The 20 primary teeth | Letter | FDI | Palmer | Tooth | Erupts, about | Shed, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A | 55 | URE | upper right primary second molar | 25 to 33 months | 10 to 12 years | | B | 54 | URD | upper right primary first molar | 13 to 19 months | 9 to 11 years | | C | 53 | URC | upper right primary canine | 16 to 22 months | 10 to 12 years | | D | 52 | URB | upper right primary lateral incisor | 9 to 13 months | 7 to 8 years | | E | 51 | URA | upper right primary central incisor | 8 to 12 months | 6 to 7 years | | F | 61 | ULA | upper left primary central incisor | 8 to 12 months | 6 to 7 years | | G | 62 | ULB | upper left primary lateral incisor | 9 to 13 months | 7 to 8 years | | H | 63 | ULC | upper left primary canine | 16 to 22 months | 10 to 12 years | | I | 64 | ULD | upper left primary first molar | 13 to 19 months | 9 to 11 years | | J | 65 | ULE | upper left primary second molar | 25 to 33 months | 10 to 12 years | | K | 75 | LLE | lower left primary second molar | 23 to 31 months | 10 to 12 years | | L | 74 | LLD | lower left primary first molar | 14 to 18 months | 9 to 11 years | | M | 73 | LLC | lower left primary canine | 17 to 23 months | 9 to 12 years | | N | 72 | LLB | lower left primary lateral incisor | 10 to 16 months | 7 to 8 years | | O | 71 | LLA | lower left primary central incisor | 6 to 10 months | 6 to 7 years | | P | 81 | LRA | lower right primary central incisor | 6 to 10 months | 6 to 7 years | | Q | 82 | LRB | lower right primary lateral incisor | 10 to 16 months | 7 to 8 years | | R | 83 | LRC | lower right primary canine | 17 to 23 months | 9 to 12 years | | S | 84 | LRD | lower right primary first molar | 14 to 18 months | 9 to 11 years | | T | 85 | LRE | lower right primary second molar | 23 to 31 months | 10 to 12 years | ## A quick way to remember the letters Learn the four corners and the middle. A, J, K and T are the four second molars, one at each end of each arch. E and F are the two upper central incisors, and O and P the two lower central incisors. The canines are C, H, M and R. From any of those you can count to the tooth you need. The same path means a letter sits roughly above or below the permanent tooth that will replace it: primary second molar A is followed by permanent second premolar 4, not by a molar. ## How primary teeth are called chairside A letter on its own is easy to mishear, so operators usually say "letter A" or "tooth A", and many use a phonetic word for letters that sound alike, such as B, D, E, P and T. You will hear callouts such as "letter K, occlusal sealant", "letter S, pulpotomy" and "letter S, stainless steel crown". The findings that come up most on children are sealants, stainless steel crowns, pulpotomies and decay on the molars. A pulpotomy on a primary molar is usually followed by a stainless steel crown on the same tooth, and both are charted as separate findings. ## Worked example: a mixed dentition An eight year old has the permanent first molars and incisors, but the primary canines and molars are still in place. The operator calls "number 3, occlusal sealant", then "letter A, DO caries", then "letter B, MO composite". Number 3 is the permanent upper right first molar, which erupted behind the primary teeth at about six. Letter A is the primary upper right second molar, just in front of it, and letter B the primary first molar in front of that. Each is charted in its own system on the same chart. When A is shed at about ten to twelve, the permanent second premolar, number 4, takes its place. ## Common mistakes - Charting a primary tooth with a permanent number, or the reverse, in a mixed dentition. - Counting primary teeth from the midline, as Palmer does, when your chart uses Universal letters from A. - Expecting primary premolars. The teeth behind the primary canine are molars. - Mishearing letters that rhyme. If B, D, E or T is unclear, ask at a natural pause. - Charting a sealant on a front tooth. Sealants go on the pits and fissures of molars. Practise with the primary teeth category in [dental charting practice by category](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/practice/), or start with the [free daily drill](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/drill/). For the permanent teeth and FDI conversions, see [Universal, FDI and Palmer numbering](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/guide/tooth-numbering-systems/). ## Sources Checked against these sources on 26 September 2026. Conventions differ between schools, offices and clinics; where yours differ, follow your program. - **American Dental Association, Universal Numbering System.** The US system that letters the primary teeth A to T along the same path as the permanent teeth 1 to 32. - **American Dental Association, primary teeth eruption chart.** The approximate eruption and shedding ages in the table. Individual children vary by months either way. - **ISO 3950, Dentistry: designation system for teeth and areas of the oral cavity.** The FDI two digit notation, with quadrants 5 to 8 for primary teeth. ## Frequently asked questions ### What are the letters for baby teeth? In the Universal system the twenty primary teeth are lettered A to T. A is the upper right second primary molar, J the upper left second primary molar, K the lower left second primary molar and T the lower right second primary molar. ### Which tooth is letter E? E is the upper right primary central incisor. The two upper primary central incisors are E and F. ### What are primary teeth in FDI? FDI numbers primary teeth in quadrants 5 to 8: 5 upper right, 6 upper left, 7 lower left and 8 lower right, with the second digit counting 1 to 5 back from the midline. Letter A is FDI 55. ### How do I chart a mixed dentition? Chart each tooth in its own system: letters for the primary teeth still present and numbers for the permanent teeth that have erupted. A child of eight may have both A and number 3 on the same chart. --- Veterinary reference, free # Modified Triadan numbering for dogs and cats, explained with a chart Modified Triadan numbering gives every tooth in a dog or cat a three digit number. The first digit is the quadrant: 1 right upper, 2 left upper, 3 left lower, 4 right lower, and 5 to 8 for the deciduous teeth in the same order. The last two digits are the position counted back from the midline, 01 for the first incisor. The canine is always 04 and the first molar always 09, the rule of 4 and 9, so 104 is the right upper canine and 309 the left lower first molar. Positions a species does not have are skipped, never reused. ## The four quadrants Right and left are the animal's own. Quadrants run clockwise as you face the patient: 100 right maxilla, 200 left maxilla, 300 left mandible, 400 right mandible. The deciduous quadrants are 500, 600, 700 and 800 in the same order, so a retained deciduous canine in the right upper jaw is 504, beside the permanent 104. The number is said as the quadrant then the position: one oh four, three oh nine, one ten, four eleven. ## The rule of 4 and 9 Because dogs and cats lose premolars differently, counting positions from the incisors would give the same tooth a different number in different species. Triadan fixes two landmarks instead. The canine is always position 04 and the first molar is always 09. From those you count: 01 to 03 are incisors, 05 to 08 are premolars, 09 to 11 are molars. When a species lacks a tooth, its number is simply left out. The upper fourth premolar (108, 208) and the lower first molar (309, 409) are the carnassial teeth in both species. ## Chart: which positions each species has The right side of each jaw, positions 01 to 11. The left side mirrors it in quadrants 2 and 3. "None" means the species has no tooth at that position. Table: Adult dog (42 teeth) and adult cat (30 teeth), right side | Position | Dog, upper (1xx) | Dog, lower (4xx) | Cat, upper (1xx) | Cat, lower (4xx) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 01 | first incisor | first incisor | first incisor | first incisor | | 02 | second incisor | second incisor | second incisor | second incisor | | 03 | third incisor | third incisor | third incisor | third incisor | | 04 | canine | canine | canine | canine | | 05 | first premolar | first premolar | none | none | | 06 | second premolar | second premolar | second premolar | none | | 07 | third premolar | third premolar | third premolar | third premolar | | 08 | fourth premolar | fourth premolar | fourth premolar | fourth premolar | | 09 | first molar | first molar | first molar | first molar | | 10 | second molar | second molar | none | none | | 11 | none | third molar | none | none | The adult dog's dental formula is I 3/3, C 1/1, P 4/4, M 2/3 per side, 42 teeth. The adult cat's is I 3/3, C 1/1, P 3/2, M 1/1, 30 teeth. That is why a cat has no 105, 305 or 306, and no second molars at all. Every tooth for all four dentitions, adult and deciduous, is listed in the [Triadan tables in the glossary](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/glossary/#triadan-tables). ## Worked example: charting a COHAT callout During a dental procedure on a dog the veterinarian says "three oh nine, furcation two". Quadrant 3 is the left mandible. Position 09 is, by the rule, the first molar, so this is the left mandibular first molar, a carnassial tooth with two roots, which is why furcation can be graded on it. Next comes "one oh eight, fractured, pulp exposed": quadrant 1, right maxilla, position 08, the upper fourth premolar, with a complicated crown fracture. In a cat the same callout could not be 105; if you hear it, ask, because the tooth does not exist. ## Common mistakes - Swapping left and right. Quadrant 1 is the animal's right upper jaw, which is on your left as you face it. - Counting a cat's premolars from 05. The cat's first upper premolar is 106 and its lower premolars are 307 and 308. - Charting a retained baby tooth on the permanent number. A persistent deciduous canine is 504, not 104. - Hearing one ten as one hundred and ten. The quadrant is said first, then the two digit position. - Grading furcation on a single rooted tooth. Incisors and canines have one root and no furcation. ChartCall has canine and feline odontograms in modified Triadan, with callouts spoken the way a veterinarian dictates them. Switch the chart to dog or cat at the top of the [daily charting drill](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/drill/). For the abbreviations that go with the numbers, see [dental charting abbreviations and symbols](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/guide/dental-charting-abbreviations/). ## Sources Checked against these sources on 26 September 2026. Conventions differ between schools, offices and clinics; where yours differ, follow your program. - **The modified Triadan system: nomenclature for veterinary dentistry, Journal of Veterinary Dentistry, 1991.** The paper that adapted the original 1972 Triadan system for animals and set out the rule of 4 and 9. - **American Veterinary Dental College, veterinary dental nomenclature.** The nomenclature and abbreviation lists that clinics and veterinary technology programs commonly follow. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is 104 in a dog? 104 is the right maxillary canine tooth: quadrant 1, the right upper jaw, and position 04, which is always the canine in modified Triadan numbering. ### What is the rule of 4 and 9? In modified Triadan numbering the canine is always position 04 and the first molar is always position 09, in every quadrant and every species. Counting from those two teeth is the quickest way to find a number. ### Why does a cat have no 105? Cats have fewer premolars than dogs, and Triadan skips a missing position rather than renumbering. The cat's upper premolars are 106, 107 and 108, and its lower premolars are 307 and 308. ### How are deciduous teeth numbered in Triadan? Deciduous teeth use quadrants 5 to 8 in the same order as 1 to 4. A retained baby canine in the right upper jaw is 504, beside the adult 104. --- Guide, free # Dental charting practice for assisting students: how to drill The fastest way to get good at dental charting is to practise the way you will be tested: hear a callout, chart it, and check the tooth, the surfaces and the material separately. Start by learning the tooth numbers and surface codes until you can read them without thinking, then chart about ten spoken callouts a day with captions on, note which part you missed each time, and remove the captions and raise the speed once you are mostly right. ## A practice routine that works - **Learn the parts before the pace.** Know the tooth numbers, the five surface letters and the common material abbreviations well enough to read them without thinking. Use the glossary and the numbering table until they are automatic. - **Chart from spoken callouts with captions on.** Listen to a callout, chart the tooth, the surfaces and the material, and check the result against the written callout. Ten callouts a day is enough to start. - **Read every miss by its part.** Note whether you missed the tooth, a surface or the material. A wrong tooth is usually counting or a mirror image, a wrong surface is usually mesial and distal swapped. - **Turn the captions off.** Once you are right most of the time, hide the captions so you rely on your ears, as you will chairside. - **Raise the speed and mix the phrasing.** Increase the speech rate and practise whole patients where the tooth comes first in some callouts and the finding in others. - **Test yourself under time.** Run a timed set with no feedback until the end, then drill the category you missed most. ## Why spoken callouts, not flashcards Flashcards teach you to read an abbreviation. Chairside, nobody shows you the abbreviation: the operator says "number 14, DO composite" once, at the pace of the exam, with both hands in the patient's mouth. The skill is turning that sound into three decisions, the tooth, the surfaces and the material, without stopping. That only improves when you practise from sound. Reading a written list of callouts is a useful first step, but the gap between reading and hearing is where most students lose marks in their first clinic sessions. ## Grade yourself by the part you missed A charting mistake is almost never random. Keep a note of which part each miss was in, and the pattern tells you what to work on: - **Wrong tooth.** Usually a counting slip or a mirror image across the arch, 3 for 14 or 19 for 30. Drill the numbering chart and the four first molars until they are instant. - **Wrong surfaces.** Usually mesial and distal swapped on the diagram, or a surface dropped from the end of a long code. Slow down on MODBL callouts and read the [tooth surface order guide](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/guide/tooth-surface-order/). - **Wrong material or condition.** Usually a word you did not expect, alloy for amalgam or resin for composite. Read the [abbreviations and symbols](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/guide/dental-charting-abbreviations/) and the words operators use for each. ## Worked example: one week of practice A first year assisting student has a charting check in two weeks. Days one and two, she reads the numbering chart and the surface letters and does the daily drill of 10 callouts with captions on, getting six and seven right. Her misses are mostly surfaces, so on day three she practises the restorations category, where every callout has a surface code, and gets eight. On day four she turns captions off and drops back to six, which is normal. By day six she is at nine with captions off, and on day seven she raises the speech rate a step. In week two she adds the other categories and finishes with a timed run of 40 callouts, then spends the last two days on the category the timed run showed was weakest. Twenty minutes a day was enough. ## Common mistakes when practising - Practising only by reading, then meeting spoken callouts for the first time in clinic. - Leaving captions on long after you are accurate, so you never learn to rely on your ears. - Counting a callout as right when the tooth and surfaces were right but the material was not. - Doing one long session the night before instead of a short session every day. - Practising only one phrasing. Operators say the tooth first, the finding first, letters or whole words. - Ignoring your program's conventions. Where they differ from a general guide, theirs are the ones graded. ## Practising with ChartCall ChartCall was built for this routine. The [daily drill](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/drill/) plays 10 spoken callouts, new each day, and grades the tooth, the surfaces and the material separately with the miss named. [Practice by category](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/practice/) lets you drill the kind of callout you miss most, the [timed exam](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/exam/) hides captions and feedback until the end, and projection mode lets an instructor play callouts to a whole lab. Veterinary technology students can switch the chart to a dog or a cat. It runs in the browser, needs no account, and keeps progress on your own device. ## Sources Checked against these sources on 26 September 2026. Conventions differ between schools, offices and clinics; where yours differ, follow your program. - **Dental assisting and dental hygiene program clinic manuals.** Programs teach charting from dictation as a clinical skill and assess it chairside; the conventions they teach take priority over any general guide. - **Research on retrieval and spaced practice.** The long standing finding in learning research that short, repeated, self tested practice spread over days is retained better than one long session. ## Frequently asked questions ### How can I practise dental charting at home? Use spoken callouts rather than written ones, because chairside you will hear them. Chart ten a day on an odontogram, check each part against the answer, then turn the captions off and raise the speed as your accuracy improves. ### How long does it take to get fast at charting? It varies, but short daily practice works better than long sessions. Most of the speed comes from recognising tooth numbers and surface codes instantly, which takes repetition over weeks rather than one long session. ### What do students get wrong most when charting? Mesial and distal mixed up, a tooth on the wrong side of the arch, a multi surface filling charted as several fillings, and a missing tooth confused with one planned for extraction. ### Is ChartCall free for students? Yes. The daily drill, the glossary and the guides are free, with no account, and progress stays in your browser. --- Reference, free # Glossary of charting terms Every material and condition a callout in ChartCall can name, with the abbreviation you will see written on a chart and the other words an operator may use for it. Offices differ on some abbreviations; where they do, follow the one your program teaches. ## Fillings **Amalgam Am**: A silver coloured filling made from an alloy of silver, tin and copper mixed with mercury. On a paper chart an existing amalgam is usually filled in solid on the surfaces it covers. Some operators call it alloy. Also said: alloy. **Composite Comp**: A tooth coloured filling of resin with a glass or ceramic filler, bonded to the tooth. It is used on front and back teeth. Many charts outline a composite rather than fill it solid, so it can be told apart from amalgam at a glance. Also said: resin. **Glass ionomer GI**: A tooth coloured material that bonds chemically to the tooth and releases fluoride. It is common at the gumline, on root surfaces and in primary teeth. Also said: GI. **Gold inlay or onlay Au inlay**: A cast gold restoration made outside the mouth and cemented into a prepared tooth. An inlay sits within the cusps; an onlay covers one or more of them. The chemical symbol Au is the usual shorthand for gold. Also said: gold inlay, gold onlay. **Temporary filling Temp**: An interim filling placed to seal a tooth until the final restoration. It is expected to be replaced, so some offices chart it in the treatment colour. Also said: temp. ## Decay **Caries Car**: Tooth decay: a lesion that needs treatment, charted in red on the surfaces involved. Operators say caries or decay interchangeably. Also said: decay. **Recurrent caries Rec car**: Decay at the margin of an existing restoration. It is charted in red on the surfaces where it is found, because the restoration will need to be replaced. Also said: recurrent decay. ## Crowns **Porcelain fused to metal crown PFM**: A full coverage crown with a metal substructure and a porcelain outer layer. It is charted by outlining the crown of the tooth. Also said: PFM crown. **Full gold crown FGC**: A full coverage crown cast entirely in gold alloy, usually on a molar where it is not seen. Also said: gold crown. **All ceramic crown Cer**: A full coverage crown with no metal, made of porcelain, lithium disilicate or zirconia. Offices differ on whether they chart the specific ceramic; ChartCall groups them. Also said: ceramic crown, zirconia crown. **Stainless steel crown SSC**: A preformed metal crown, most often placed on a primary molar after a pulpotomy or extensive decay, and sometimes as an interim crown on a permanent molar. Also said: SSC. ## Whole tooth **Missing X**: The tooth is not present. It is charted with a large X through the whole tooth. A tooth that is present but needs to come out is charted as extraction indicated instead. **Extraction indicated Ext**: The tooth is present and is planned to be removed. It is charted in red, often with two parallel lines through the tooth, so it is not confused with a tooth that is already missing. Also said: extraction, to be extracted. **Root canal treatment RCT**: Endodontic treatment: the pulp has been removed and the canals filled. It is charted as a line drawn through each root. It is usually followed by a crown on a back tooth, which is charted as its own finding. Also said: root canal, RCT, endo. **Implant Imp**: A titanium or zirconia post placed in the bone in place of a lost tooth, restored with a crown. It is charted with horizontal lines through the root, like the threads of a screw. **Sealant S**: A thin resin coating flowed into the pits and fissures of a back tooth to keep decay out. It is charted with an S on the biting surface. Sealants go on premolars and molars, not on front teeth. **Watch W**: An area the dentist wants to monitor at the next visit rather than treat now, such as an early lesion or a stained groove. It is charted with a W. Also said: monitor. **Bridge pontic Pontic**: The false tooth in a fixed bridge, suspended between the crowned teeth on either side, which are called abutments. The missing root is crossed out and the crown is outlined and joined to its neighbours. Also said: pontic. **Pulpotomy Pulp**: Removal of the pulp in the crown of a primary tooth, leaving the root pulp in place. It is charted in the pulp chamber and is usually followed by a stainless steel crown. **Fractured tooth Fx**: A crack or break in the tooth. It is charted in red, usually as a zigzag line across the crown, and the dentist will say where it runs if it matters. Also said: fractured, fracture. ## Surfaces **Mesial M**: The side of the tooth facing the midline of the arch, toward the front centre of the mouth. **Occlusal O**: The chewing surface of a premolar or molar. It is called the incisal edge on a front tooth. **Incisal I**: The biting edge of an incisor or canine. It takes the place of the occlusal surface on a front tooth. **Distal D**: The side of the tooth facing away from the midline, toward the back of the mouth. **Buccal B**: The cheek side of a premolar or molar. On a front tooth the same side is called facial or labial. **Facial F**: The lip side of an incisor or canine. Some charts use F for the outer surface of every tooth. **Lingual L**: The tongue side of the tooth. On upper teeth some charts call it palatal and write P. **Labial La**: The lip side of an incisor or canine on a dog or cat chart, where a human chart would say facial. On the cheek teeth the same side is buccal. **Palatal P**: The palate side of an upper tooth. Veterinary charts use palatal for every upper tooth and lingual only for the lower jaw. ## Charting terms **Universal numbering**: The system used in the United States. Permanent teeth are numbered 1 to 32, starting at the upper right third molar, running across the upper arch to the upper left, then back along the lower arch from the lower left third molar to the lower right. Primary teeth are lettered A to T in the same path. **FDI two digit numbering FDI**: The international system. The first digit is the quadrant (1 upper right, 2 upper left, 3 lower left, 4 lower right, and 5 to 8 for primary teeth in the same order) and the second digit counts back from the midline. Universal 3 is FDI 16, and it is read one six, not sixteen. **Quadrant UR, UL, LL, LR**: A quarter of the mouth: upper right, upper left, lower left or lower right. Right and left are always the patient's, which is why the patient's right side appears on the left of a chart. **Maxillary and mandibular arch Max, Mand**: The upper arch (maxillary) and the lower arch (mandibular). Teeth 1 to 16 are maxillary and 17 to 32 mandibular. **Odontogram**: A diagram of every tooth used to record findings. ChartCall's odontogram draws each tooth twice: an outline for whole tooth findings such as a crown or a missing tooth, and a five part box for surface findings. **Existing and treatment colours**: Many offices chart work already in the mouth in blue or black and work that is needed in red. ChartCall uses blue for existing work and red for decay, extractions, fractures and areas to watch, and never relies on colour alone: every mark also has its own shape. **Combined surfaces MO, DO, MOD**: A filling that covers more than one surface is one restoration, charted once with all of its surfaces. The letters are written mesial first and distal last when both are present, so a filling across the mesial, occlusal and distal surfaces is MOD, and one across the distal and occlusal is DO. Also said: mesio occlusal, disto occlusal, mesio occluso distal. **Cavity classes Class I to VI**: A long standing way of grouping fillings by where they sit: class I in pits and grooves, class II on the sides of back teeth, class III on the sides of front teeth, class IV on the side of a front tooth when the incisal angle is involved, class V at the gumline, and class VI on cusp tips and incisal edges. A dentist may call a class instead of the surfaces. **Abutment Abut**: A tooth or implant that supports a bridge. The abutment teeth are crowned, and each crown is charted as its own finding on either side of the pontic. **Primary dentition**: The twenty baby teeth, lettered A to T. A child between about six and twelve has a mixed dentition, with some primary and some permanent teeth, and each is charted in its own system. **Operator**: The dentist or hygienist examining the mouth and calling findings aloud while the assistant or a second clinician records them. ## Universal and FDI numbering Every tooth in both systems, in charting order. Right and left are the patient's. The drills can label the odontogram and speak the callouts in either system. Table: Permanent teeth | Universal | FDI | Tooth | | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | 18 | upper right third molar | | 2 | 17 | upper right second molar | | 3 | 16 | upper right first molar | | 4 | 15 | upper right second premolar | | 5 | 14 | upper right first premolar | | 6 | 13 | upper right canine | | 7 | 12 | upper right lateral incisor | | 8 | 11 | upper right central incisor | | 9 | 21 | upper left central incisor | | 10 | 22 | upper left lateral incisor | | 11 | 23 | upper left canine | | 12 | 24 | upper left first premolar | | 13 | 25 | upper left second premolar | | 14 | 26 | upper left first molar | | 15 | 27 | upper left second molar | | 16 | 28 | upper left third molar | | 17 | 38 | lower left third molar | | 18 | 37 | lower left second molar | | 19 | 36 | lower left first molar | | 20 | 35 | lower left second premolar | | 21 | 34 | lower left first premolar | | 22 | 33 | lower left canine | | 23 | 32 | lower left lateral incisor | | 24 | 31 | lower left central incisor | | 25 | 41 | lower right central incisor | | 26 | 42 | lower right lateral incisor | | 27 | 43 | lower right canine | | 28 | 44 | lower right first premolar | | 29 | 45 | lower right second premolar | | 30 | 46 | lower right first molar | | 31 | 47 | lower right second molar | | 32 | 48 | lower right third molar | Table: Primary teeth | Universal | FDI | Tooth | | --- | --- | --- | | A | 55 | upper right primary second molar | | B | 54 | upper right primary first molar | | C | 53 | upper right primary canine | | D | 52 | upper right primary lateral incisor | | E | 51 | upper right primary central incisor | | F | 61 | upper left primary central incisor | | G | 62 | upper left primary lateral incisor | | H | 63 | upper left primary canine | | I | 64 | upper left primary first molar | | J | 65 | upper left primary second molar | | K | 75 | lower left primary second molar | | L | 74 | lower left primary first molar | | M | 73 | lower left primary canine | | N | 72 | lower left primary lateral incisor | | O | 71 | lower left primary central incisor | | P | 81 | lower right primary central incisor | | Q | 82 | lower right primary lateral incisor | | R | 83 | lower right primary canine | | S | 84 | lower right primary first molar | | T | 85 | lower right primary second molar | ## Veterinary charting: dogs and cats The canine and feline charts use their own findings, called during a COHAT and numbered in modified Triadan. Grades are charted as a value on a scale, so mobility 1 for mobility 2 is marked as a wrong grade. Abbreviations vary between clinics and teaching programs; where yours differ, follow them. ## Periodontal **Mobility 1 MOB1**: Grade 1 mobility: the tooth moves a little more than a healthy tooth, up to about half a millimetre, when the crown is pushed with an instrument. Healthy teeth move very slightly because the ligament around the root gives. Also said: mobility grade 1, MOB 1. **Mobility 2 MOB2**: Grade 2 mobility: the tooth moves between about half a millimetre and one millimetre sideways when pushed. It usually means a real loss of the bone and ligament that hold the root. Also said: mobility grade 2, MOB 2. **Mobility 3 MOB3**: Grade 3 mobility: the tooth moves more than a millimetre in any direction, or moves up and down in its socket. A grade 3 tooth has lost most of its support and is usually extracted. Also said: mobility grade 3, MOB 3. **Furcation 1 F1**: Grade 1 furcation: on a tooth with two or more roots, a probe dips into the space between the roots, but by less than half the width of the tooth. Also said: furcation grade 1, F 1. **Furcation 2 F2**: Grade 2 furcation: the probe passes more than halfway under the crown between the roots, but does not come out on the other side. Also said: furcation grade 2, F 2. **Furcation 3 F3**: Grade 3 furcation: the probe passes right through between the roots, from the cheek side to the tongue or palate side. The bone between the roots is gone. Also said: furcation grade 3, F 3. **Calculus index 1 CI1**: Calculus index 1: hardened tartar covers less than about a third of the crown on the cheek side. It is scored per tooth before scaling. Also said: calculus 1, CI 1. **Calculus index 2 CI2**: Calculus index 2: tartar covers between about a third and two thirds of the crown on the cheek side, and may reach a little under the gum. Also said: calculus 2, CI 2. **Calculus index 3 CI3**: Calculus index 3: tartar covers more than about two thirds of the crown on the cheek side, often reaching well under the gum line. Also said: calculus 3, CI 3. **Gingival index 1 GI1**: Gingival index 1, mild gingivitis: the gum edge is slightly red and swollen but does not bleed when gently probed. Also said: gingivitis 1, GI 1. **Gingival index 2 GI2**: Gingival index 2, moderate gingivitis: the gum is red and swollen and bleeds when gently probed. Also said: gingivitis 2, GI 2. **Gingival index 3 GI3**: Gingival index 3, severe gingivitis: the gum is very red and swollen, may be ulcerated, and bleeds on its own or at a touch. Also said: gingivitis 3, GI 3. **Gingival recession GR**: The gum edge has moved down the tooth toward the root tip, exposing root surface. It is measured in millimetres from the enamel edge to the gum on each surface where it is seen; the drill asks only which surfaces. Also said: recession, GR. ## Fractures and wear **Complicated crown fracture CCF**: A break through the enamel and dentin that opens the pulp chamber, often seen as a pink or dark spot on the broken surface. The pulp is exposed to the mouth, so the tooth needs root canal treatment or extraction. Also said: fractured, pulp exposed, CCF. **Uncomplicated crown fracture UCF**: A break through the enamel and into the dentin that does not open the pulp. The tooth is radiographed to check the pulp is still healthy, and the exposed dentin may be sealed. Also said: fractured, no pulp exposure, UCF. **Worn tooth AT or AB**: Tooth substance lost to wear. Attrition is wear from tooth against tooth; abrasion is wear from something else, such as tennis balls, cage bars or chewing on hard objects. Both are charted as a worn tooth here. Also said: worn, attrition, abrasion. **Caries CA**: Decay of the tooth from bacterial acid. It is uncommon in dogs and rare in cats, and is found mostly on the flat grinding surfaces of a dog's upper molars. It is charted on the surfaces involved. Also said: carious lesion, CA. **Discoloured tooth DT**: A tooth stained from inside, pink, purple, grey or brown, usually after a blow that bruised the pulp. Most intrinsically discoloured teeth are no longer vital, so they are radiographed and usually treated. Also said: discoloured, intrinsic stain. **Enamel hypoplasia EH**: Thin, pitted or missing enamel left by an illness, fever or injury while the tooth was forming, before it erupted. Several teeth formed at the same time are often affected together. Also said: EH. ## Tooth resorption **Tooth resorption stage 1 TR1**: Tooth resorption stage 1: a shallow loss of hard tissue, in the cementum or the cementum and enamel only. Stages are confirmed on a dental radiograph. Also said: resorption stage 1, TR 1. **Tooth resorption stage 2 TR2**: Tooth resorption stage 2: the loss reaches into the dentin but not into the pulp cavity. Also said: resorption stage 2, TR 2. **Tooth resorption stage 3 TR3**: Tooth resorption stage 3: the loss reaches the pulp cavity, but most of the tooth is still intact. Also said: resorption stage 3, TR 3. **Tooth resorption stage 4 TR4**: Tooth resorption stage 4: the loss reaches the pulp cavity and most of the tooth has lost its integrity. The crown may be partly gone. Also said: resorption stage 4, TR 4. **Tooth resorption stage 5 TR5**: Tooth resorption stage 5: only faint remnants of the tooth are visible on a radiograph, and the gum has closed over where the crown was. Also said: resorption stage 5, TR 5. ## Missing and extracted **Missing tooth O**: The tooth is not there and was not taken out at this visit. It is often charted by circling the tooth. A radiograph decides whether it is truly absent, unerupted, or a root left behind under the gum. Also said: missing, absent. **Extracted X**: The tooth was removed during this procedure. It is charted with an X through the tooth, and it is often called after the finding that led to it, such as grade 3 mobility. Also said: extraction. **Retained root RTR**: The crown is gone but part of the root is still in the jaw, after an old fracture or an extraction that broke. It is found on a radiograph and is usually removed. Also said: root remnant, RTR. ## Development **Retained deciduous tooth RD**: A baby tooth still in place when the adult tooth that replaces it has come in or should have. It is common with the canines of small breed dogs. It is charted on the deciduous number, 504 and not 104, and is usually extracted. Also said: retained, persistent deciduous, retained deciduous. **Supernumerary tooth SN**: An extra tooth beyond the normal count for the species, most often an incisor or a premolar. It has no Triadan number of its own, so it is charted at the tooth it duplicates. Also said: supernumerary, extra tooth, SN. ## Treatment **Prosthetic crown CR**: A cemented cap, usually metal, over a tooth that has had root canal treatment, most often a working dog's canine or carnassial. It is charted by outlining the crown. Also said: crown, metal crown. **Composite restoration R**: A tooth coloured filling bonded to the tooth, used to seal an access hole after root canal treatment, to cover exposed dentin after a fracture, or to fill a carious lesion. It is charted on the surfaces it covers. Also said: restoration, filling. **Root canal treatment RCT**: The pulp has been removed and the canal cleaned and filled, keeping a fractured or non vital tooth in place instead of extracting it. It is charted with a line through the root. Also said: root canal, RCT, endo. ## Veterinary terms **Modified Triadan numbering**: The three digit system used for dogs, cats and other animals. The first digit is the quadrant: 1 right upper, 2 left upper, 3 left lower, 4 right lower, and 5 to 8 for deciduous teeth in the same order. The last two digits count back from the midline, so 104 is the right upper canine and 309 the left lower first molar. **Rule of 4 and 9**: In every species charted with Triadan numbers the canine tooth is always position 04 and the first molar always 09. Positions a species lacks are skipped rather than renumbered, which is why a cat has no 105 or 305 and its lower premolars are 307 and 308. **Saying a Triadan number**: The number is said as the quadrant and then the position: 104 is one oh four, 309 is three oh nine, 110 is one ten and 411 is four eleven. Some clinicians name the tooth instead, such as right maxillary canine for 104. **COHAT COHAT**: Comprehensive oral health assessment and treatment: the examination, probing, charting, radiographs, cleaning and any extractions done while the animal is under general anaesthesia. The veterinarian calls the findings aloud while an assistant or technician charts them. **Dental formula**: The count of each tooth type in one side of the upper and lower jaw. An adult dog has I 3/3, C 1/1, P 4/4, M 2/3, which is 42 teeth; an adult cat I 3/3, C 1/1, P 3/2, M 1/1, which is 30. Puppies have 28 deciduous teeth and kittens 26. **Carnassial teeth**: The large shearing pair of cheek teeth: the upper fourth premolar (108 and 208) and the lower first molar (309 and 409) in dogs and cats. They are common sites for fractures, furcation involvement and resorption. **Maxillary and mandibular**: Upper jaw teeth are maxillary, quadrants 1 and 2 (5 and 6 deciduous); lower jaw teeth are mandibular, quadrants 3 and 4 (7 and 8 deciduous). Right and left are always the animal's own. **Vestibular surface**: The outer surface of any tooth, facing the lips or cheeks. On a veterinary chart it is called labial on incisors and canines and buccal on premolars and molars, and ChartCall labels each tooth with the word it takes. **Periodontal probing**: Measuring around each tooth with a marked probe under anaesthesia: pocket depth, gingival recession, furcation involvement and bleeding. Mobility is tested by pushing the crown. The results are called one tooth at a time. **Deciduous teeth**: The baby teeth of a puppy or kitten, numbered in quadrants 5 to 8. A puppy has no deciduous first premolars and no deciduous molars, so there is no 505 and nothing after 508. ## Triadan numbering for dogs and cats Every tooth each species has, in charting order, quadrant 1 round to quadrant 4 (5 to 8 for deciduous teeth). Right and left are the animal's. Numbers a species lacks are skipped, never reused. Table: Dog, permanent (42 teeth) | Triadan | Tooth | | --- | --- | | 101 | right maxillary first incisor | | 102 | right maxillary second incisor | | 103 | right maxillary third incisor | | 104 | right maxillary canine | | 105 | right maxillary first premolar | | 106 | right maxillary second premolar | | 107 | right maxillary third premolar | | 108 | right maxillary fourth premolar | | 109 | right maxillary first molar | | 110 | right maxillary second molar | | 201 | left maxillary first incisor | | 202 | left maxillary second incisor | | 203 | left maxillary third incisor | | 204 | left maxillary canine | | 205 | left maxillary first premolar | | 206 | left maxillary second premolar | | 207 | left maxillary third premolar | | 208 | left maxillary fourth premolar | | 209 | left maxillary first molar | | 210 | left maxillary second molar | | 301 | left mandibular first incisor | | 302 | left mandibular second incisor | | 303 | left mandibular third incisor | | 304 | left mandibular canine | | 305 | left mandibular first premolar | | 306 | left mandibular second premolar | | 307 | left mandibular third premolar | | 308 | left mandibular fourth premolar | | 309 | left mandibular first molar | | 310 | left mandibular second molar | | 311 | left mandibular third molar | | 401 | right mandibular first incisor | | 402 | right mandibular second incisor | | 403 | right mandibular third incisor | | 404 | right mandibular canine | | 405 | right mandibular first premolar | | 406 | right mandibular second premolar | | 407 | right mandibular third premolar | | 408 | right mandibular fourth premolar | | 409 | right mandibular first molar | | 410 | right mandibular second molar | | 411 | right mandibular third molar | Table: Cat, permanent (30 teeth) | Triadan | Tooth | | --- | --- | | 101 | right maxillary first incisor | | 102 | right maxillary second incisor | | 103 | right maxillary third incisor | | 104 | right maxillary canine | | 106 | right maxillary second premolar | | 107 | right maxillary third premolar | | 108 | right maxillary fourth premolar | | 109 | right maxillary first molar | | 201 | left maxillary first incisor | | 202 | left maxillary second incisor | | 203 | left maxillary third incisor | | 204 | left maxillary canine | | 206 | left maxillary second premolar | | 207 | left maxillary third premolar | | 208 | left maxillary fourth premolar | | 209 | left maxillary first molar | | 301 | left mandibular first incisor | | 302 | left mandibular second incisor | | 303 | left mandibular third incisor | | 304 | left mandibular canine | | 307 | left mandibular third premolar | | 308 | left mandibular fourth premolar | | 309 | left mandibular first molar | | 401 | right mandibular first incisor | | 402 | right mandibular second incisor | | 403 | right mandibular third incisor | | 404 | right mandibular canine | | 407 | right mandibular third premolar | | 408 | right mandibular fourth premolar | | 409 | right mandibular first molar | Table: Dog, deciduous (28 teeth) | Triadan | Tooth | | --- | --- | | 501 | right maxillary deciduous first incisor | | 502 | right maxillary deciduous second incisor | | 503 | right maxillary deciduous third incisor | | 504 | right maxillary deciduous canine | | 506 | right maxillary deciduous second premolar | | 507 | right maxillary deciduous third premolar | | 508 | right maxillary deciduous fourth premolar | | 601 | left maxillary deciduous first incisor | | 602 | left maxillary deciduous second incisor | | 603 | left maxillary deciduous third incisor | | 604 | left maxillary deciduous canine | | 606 | left maxillary deciduous second premolar | | 607 | left maxillary deciduous third premolar | | 608 | left maxillary deciduous fourth premolar | | 701 | left mandibular deciduous first incisor | | 702 | left mandibular deciduous second incisor | | 703 | left mandibular deciduous third incisor | | 704 | left mandibular deciduous canine | | 706 | left mandibular deciduous second premolar | | 707 | left mandibular deciduous third premolar | | 708 | left mandibular deciduous fourth premolar | | 801 | right mandibular deciduous first incisor | | 802 | right mandibular deciduous second incisor | | 803 | right mandibular deciduous third incisor | | 804 | right mandibular deciduous canine | | 806 | right mandibular deciduous second premolar | | 807 | right mandibular deciduous third premolar | | 808 | right mandibular deciduous fourth premolar | Table: Cat, deciduous (26 teeth) | Triadan | Tooth | | --- | --- | | 501 | right maxillary deciduous first incisor | | 502 | right maxillary deciduous second incisor | | 503 | right maxillary deciduous third incisor | | 504 | right maxillary deciduous canine | | 506 | right maxillary deciduous second premolar | | 507 | right maxillary deciduous third premolar | | 508 | right maxillary deciduous fourth premolar | | 601 | left maxillary deciduous first incisor | | 602 | left maxillary deciduous second incisor | | 603 | left maxillary deciduous third incisor | | 604 | left maxillary deciduous canine | | 606 | left maxillary deciduous second premolar | | 607 | left maxillary deciduous third premolar | | 608 | left maxillary deciduous fourth premolar | | 701 | left mandibular deciduous first incisor | | 702 | left mandibular deciduous second incisor | | 703 | left mandibular deciduous third incisor | | 704 | left mandibular deciduous canine | | 707 | left mandibular deciduous third premolar | | 708 | left mandibular deciduous fourth premolar | | 801 | right mandibular deciduous first incisor | | 802 | right mandibular deciduous second incisor | | 803 | right mandibular deciduous third incisor | | 804 | right mandibular deciduous canine | | 807 | right mandibular deciduous third premolar | | 808 | right mandibular deciduous fourth premolar | Ready to hear these in use? [Start the daily drill](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/drill/) or read [how callouts are dictated](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/guide/). For a one page lookup, see [dental charting abbreviations and symbols](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/guide/dental-charting-abbreviations/), and for Palmer notation as well as Universal and FDI, the [tooth numbering conversion chart](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/guide/tooth-numbering-systems/). Last reviewed 26 September 2026. First published 25 September 2026. --- FAQ # Questions and answers about the charting drill Anything not answered here goes to the address in the footer. For the words themselves, see the [glossary](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/glossary/). ## Frequently asked questions ### What is ChartCall? A listening drill for dental charting. Your browser speaks a callout the way an operator dictates it, such as "number 3, MOD amalgam", you chart it on the odontogram, and ChartCall grades the tooth, the surfaces and the material or condition separately and names whichever you missed. ### Who is it for? Dental assisting and dental hygiene students learning to chart from dictation, veterinary technology students learning to chart a COHAT, people training on the job, and instructors who want to play callouts to a lab from a projector. ### Does it cover veterinary dental charting? Yes. Switch the chart to canine or feline at the top of the drill, practice, exam or projection page. The dog chart has 42 permanent teeth and the cat chart 30, both in modified Triadan numbering, with deciduous charts for puppies and kittens. There are 36 invented dogs and cats with 229 findings, called the way a veterinarian dictates during a COHAT. ### How are Triadan numbers said in the veterinary callouts? As the quadrant digit and then the position: 104 is one oh four, 309 is three oh nine, 110 is one ten and 411 is four eleven. Sometimes the tooth is named instead, such as left mandibular first molar for 309. Grades are said as words, so mobility 2 is heard as mobility two. ### What is free on the dog and cat charts? Everything on the dog and cat charts is free, with no account: the daily drills of 10 callouts, every practice category, the exam and projection mode. Each chart keeps its own progress in this browser. ### Is it free? Yes. Everything on the site is free, with no account: the daily drills, every practice category on the human, dog and cat charts, the timed exam of 40 callouts, projection mode, the session history, the glossary and the guide. There is no paid plan. ### Are the patients real? No. All 60 human cases with 363 findings, and all 36 dog and cat cases, are invented for practice. No real patient data is used anywhere, and nothing you chart here is a clinical record. ### Why can I not hear anything? Callouts are spoken by your browser's own speech engine. Check the volume and the voice picker. If your browser has no speech voices, the callouts are shown as text instead and the page says so. Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox on a computer can all speak them. ### Does it use Universal or FDI numbering? Universal by default: 1 to 32 for permanent teeth and A to T for primary teeth. A toggle switches the chart and the spoken callouts to FDI two digit numbering. The dog and cat charts always use modified Triadan numbering. ### Why was my answer marked wrong when the surfaces were right? Each part is graded on its own. The feedback names the part that was off: the tooth, a surface left off or added, or a material or condition that differed from the callout. Composite for amalgam is a material miss even if the tooth and surfaces are right. ### Where is my progress stored? In this browser's local storage only. Nothing is uploaded. The progress page exports it as a JSON file, which you can import on another browser. ### Does it match what my program teaches? It teaches one consistent set of conventions, the common US ones, and the guide says where practice varies. Where your program differs, for example in chart colours or abbreviations, follow your program. ### Is it affiliated with a board or an exam? ChartCall is not affiliated with any dental board, exam body, school or professional association. That includes veterinary boards, veterinary dental organisations and technician credentialing bodies. It is an independent study aid and does not reproduce any exam content. Still stuck on a term or a number? Read the [guide to how callouts are dictated](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/guide/) or try the [free daily drill](https://chartcall-web.pages.dev/drill/). Last reviewed 26 September 2026. First published 25 September 2026.