Palmer dental notation

A bracket showing the quadrant.

Also known as: Zsigmondy-Palmer notation, Grid system dental, Military tooth notation

MedicalScientificStandard profile

Meanings

The tooth-numbering system marking the quadrant with an angled bracket around the tooth's number.

Officially standardisedVerified fact
Numbers each tooth from the midline and shows its quadrant by the orientation of a bracket around the number.
Contexts: Medicine, Laboratory
Officially standardisedVerified fact
Carries the quadrant in a graphical mark rather than in a digit, which is legible on paper and very hard to type — the reason it persists in handwritten charting and not in records systems.
Contexts: Medicine, Laboratory

Visual description

A number from one to eight enclosed by an L-shaped bracket whose orientation — opening up or down, left or right — names the quadrant.

Symmetry: none
Orientation: upright

Confidence

IdentityHigh confidence: High confidence because the identity is defined by a current official standard, but only a single source has been found so far.
Historical originLow confidence: Low confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far, but early or supporting evidence is limited, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useHigh confidence: High confidence because the current use is defined by a current official standard, but only a single source has been found so far.
Visual matchModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.

Sources

Clinical charting and diagnostic notation
The FDI World Dental Federation and comparable clinical bodies · retrieved 2026-08-27
Cited for the identity and definition of a charting or labelling convention. Nothing here is clinical guidance, no record states how a finding should be interpreted, and competing national conventions are named rather than reconciled.

Last reviewed 2026-08-27

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Meanings

The tooth-numbering system marking the quadrant with an angled bracket around the tooth's number.

Officially standardisedVerified fact

Numbers each tooth from the midline and shows its quadrant by the orientation of a bracket around the number.

Contexts: Medicine, Laboratory

Officially standardisedVerified fact

Carries the quadrant in a graphical mark rather than in a digit, which is legible on paper and very hard to type — the reason it persists in handwritten charting and not in records systems.

Contexts: Medicine, Laboratory

Confidence

IdentityHigh confidence: High confidence because the identity is defined by a current official standard, but only a single source has been found so far.
Historical originLow confidence: Low confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far, but early or supporting evidence is limited, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useHigh confidence: High confidence because the current use is defined by a current official standard, but only a single source has been found so far.
Visual matchModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.

Sources

Clinical charting and diagnostic notation
The FDI World Dental Federation and comparable clinical bodies · retrieved 2026-08-27
Cited for the identity and definition of a charting or labelling convention. Nothing here is clinical guidance, no record states how a finding should be interpreted, and competing national conventions are named rather than reconciled.

Last reviewed 2026-08-27