Quick Start -- Essential Terms by Role

New to dentistry or to this lab? Start here. Each section covers the 10 most essential Core terms for your role.

Pathology

Abscess -- A painful pocket of infection near a tooth root or in the gums, causing swelling and sometimes a bad taste. It needs treatment right away.
Aggressive Periodontitis -- A fast-moving form of gum disease that can cause serious bone loss in younger patients.
Caries -- Tooth decay that creates a cavity in the tooth.
Chronic Apical Periodontitis -- A long-term infection around the tip of a tooth root that may not always hurt but shows on an x-ray.
Chronic Periodontitis -- Advanced gum disease that damages the bone and support around the teeth over time.
Gingivitis -- Early gum disease that makes gums red, swollen, and likely to bleed — but fully reversible with cleaning.
Peri-Implantitis -- An infection around a dental implant that causes bone loss and bleeding gums.
Periodontitis -- Advanced gum disease that damages the bone and tissue holding your teeth in place — and is not fully reversible.
Pulp Necrosis -- When the nerve inside the tooth dies, often after a bad toothache or injury.
Pulpitis -- Inflammation of the nerve inside the tooth that causes toothache, often from a deep cavity.

Complete Denture -- A full set of removable false teeth for the upper or lower jaw.
Core build-up -- A base filling placed inside a damaged tooth to give a crown something solid to hold on to.
Finish line -- The shaped edge at the base of a crown preparation that determines where the crown ends.
Implant Abutment Connection -- Connecting a small piece to the implant so a crown or denture can be attached.
Implant Placement -- Placing a metal post in the jawbone to support a replacement tooth.
Local anesthesia -- A numbing injection that temporarily blocks pain in a specific area of your mouth.
Margin (restoration) -- The edge where a crown or filling meets your tooth.
Open contact -- A gap between neighboring teeth where there should be contact, causing food to get stuck.
Overcontour -- When a crown or filling is too bulky in shape, making it hard to keep clean and leading to gum problems.
Overhang -- Extra filling material that sticks out past the edge of a restoration — a common cause of gum irritation.

Fee schedule -- The list of set amounts your insurance plan will pay for each type of dental work.
Maximum allowable charge -- The most your insurance plan will pay for a specific procedure — amounts above that are your responsibility.
Non-covered service -- A dental service your insurance plan does not pay for, which means you pay the full cost.

Early Childhood Caries -- Serious tooth decay in young children's baby teeth, sometimes called baby bottle tooth decay.
Hall Technique Crown -- Placing a silver cap over a decayed baby tooth without drilling, to seal in the decay and stop it from growing.
NuSmile Crown (Pediatric Esthetic Crown) -- A white cap for a baby tooth that looks more like a natural tooth.
Prophylaxis, Pediatric (Tickle Teeth) -- A gentle tooth cleaning for kids where the hygienist 'tickles the teeth' to remove sugar bugs and make the smile shine.
Pulpotomy (Primary Tooth) -- Taking out only the top part of the nerve in a baby tooth and placing medicine so the tooth can stay in the mouth.
Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) -- A special medicine painted on cavities to help stop them from getting bigger, sometimes turning the spot dark.
Stainless Steel Crown -- A silver cap placed on a baby tooth to make it strong again after big cavities or nerve treatment.

3D printing (dental) -- A process that builds dental parts layer by layer from special resins — used to make models, night guards, and temporary crowns.
Articulating paper -- A thin colored paper placed between the teeth to show where they are touching too hard — used to adjust the bite of a new restoration.
Burnout -- The step where wax is melted out of the mold in a furnace, creating a space to fill with metal or ceramic.
Desktop scanner -- A lab machine that turns physical dental models into digital files for designing restorations on a computer.
DICOM -- The standard file format used to store and share medical and dental scan images.
Die spacer -- A thin coating put on the tooth model that creates just enough space inside a crown for the cement that holds it in place.
Die trimming -- A lab step where extra plaster is carefully removed from a tooth model so the edges of the preparation are clearly visible.
Facebow -- A device used to measure and transfer how your upper teeth relate to your jaw joint, so the dental lab can replicate your bite accurately.
Glazing -- The final firing step for a ceramic restoration that creates a smooth, shiny surface similar to natural enamel.
Heat pressing -- A method of making ceramic restorations by pressing heated ceramic material into a mold under controlled pressure.