Primary maxillary canine: FDI 53 and 63

The numbers on both sides

In FDI the first digit is the quadrant and the second is the position counted from the midline. 53 is quadrant 5, position 3: the upper right primary canine. 63 is the same position in quadrant 6, on the upper left. Universal gives baby teeth the letters A to T, from the upper right second molar around to the lower right second molar, which makes this tooth C on the upper right and H on the upper left. Palmer writes the letter for the position inside a bracket that shows the quadrant. In plain text that gives URC and ULC.

Crown surfaces: mesial, distal, labial (facial), lingual and incisal.

Development and eruption

Calcification starts at about 17 weeks in utero, the crown is complete at 9 months and the tooth erupts at 16 to 22 months, after the first molar. The root is complete at 3.25 years, last along with the lower canine, and the tooth is shed at 10 to 12 years. It stays in the mouth for roughly nine years.

Read on 24 October 2026. Sources: Human tooth development, tables citing Ash and Nelson, Wheeler's Dental Anatomy, Physiology and Occlusion (Wikipedia); American Dental Association, Tooth development charts (primary and permanent). Figures are usual values, and teeth vary from person to person.

Crown

The crown is long and sharp, with a single pointed cusp, in the description of one primary anatomy lecture. Unlike the other canines, its mesial cusp slope is longer than its distal slope.

Like the other primary teeth, the crown narrows at the neck, and the enamel is about half as thick as on a permanent tooth. Incisors and canines are generally spaced in a growing arch, and the maxillary primate space lies mesial to the canine.

Read on 24 October 2026. Sources: Chussid, Anatomy of Primary Teeth, Columbia University College of Dental Medicine lecture; MolarPath note Primary tooth morphology (built on McDonald and Avery's Dentistry for the Child and Adolescent, 11th ed.). Figures are usual values, and teeth vary from person to person.

Roots and canals

Roots of the anterior primary teeth are narrower from side to side than those of the posterior teeth, and they are conical, which makes removal easier. The sources used for this page give no canal count for the canine, so none is stated here.

Primary anterior roots are long and slender relative to their short crowns. Their apical foramina may be larger and the accessory canals more numerous than in permanent teeth.

Read on 24 October 2026. Sources: Chussid, Anatomy of Primary Teeth, Columbia University College of Dental Medicine lecture. Figures are usual values, and teeth vary from person to person.

Neighbors and the tooth that replaces it

The eruption order within a jaw runs from the incisors to the first molar, then the canine and finally the second molar. A canine that comes in ahead of the first molar does not match the primary pattern.

The permanent maxillary canine replaces it at 11 to 12 years, and the primary canine is part of the leeway space: the primary canine and the two molars together are wider than the permanent canine and two premolars. Proffit puts the surplus at about 1.5 mm per side in the upper arch.

Read on 24 October 2026. Sources: MolarPath note Eruption sequence and chronology (built on McDonald and Avery, 11th ed., and Proffit's Contemporary Orthodontics, 7th ed.); MolarPath note Primary tooth morphology (built on McDonald and Avery's Dentistry for the Child and Adolescent, 11th ed.); American Dental Association, Tooth development charts (primary and permanent). Figures are usual values, and teeth vary from person to person.

Local anesthesia

Maxillary infiltration is routine for all teeth, and a slow injection reduces discomfort. In children the thin, porous bone lets a buccal deposit reach the pulp.

If the needle tip stays too superficial, the solution distends the mucosa and causes painful ballooning of the vestibular tissue.

Read on 24 October 2026. Sources: MolarPath note Maxillary techniques, local anesthesia (built on Malamed's Handbook of Local Anesthesia, 7th ed.); MolarPath note Mandibular techniques, local anesthesia (built on Malamed's Handbook of Local Anesthesia, 7th ed.). Figures are usual values, and teeth vary from person to person.

Clinical and exam points

The primary canine acts as a clue to the permanent canine. The AAPD lists a lack of root resorption of the primary canine among the radiographic signs of an impacted permanent canine, and extraction of the primary canine may stimulate eruption of the permanent one.

The AAPD says extraction of the primary canine is indicated when the canine bulge cannot be felt in the alveolar process and the canine overlaps the formed root of the lateral incisor on a radiograph in the mixed dentition. It corrected the impaction in 67 to 69 percent of cases, against 39 to 42 percent in a control group without extraction. When impaction is diagnosed at 11 to 16 years and the canine is not horizontal, 75 percent will erupt after the primary canine is taken out.

Read on 24 October 2026. Sources: American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, Management of the Developing Dentition and Occlusion in Pediatric Dentistry (2024 revision). Figures are usual values, and teeth vary from person to person.

Questions and answers

Read on 24 October 2026. Sources: American Dental Association, Tooth development charts (primary and permanent); MolarPath note Eruption sequence and chronology (built on McDonald and Avery, 11th ed., and Proffit's Contemporary Orthodontics, 7th ed.); American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, Management of the Developing Dentition and Occlusion in Pediatric Dentistry (2024 revision). Figures are usual values, and teeth vary from person to person.