Dental glossary — terms beginning with Q

Quadrant, in dentistry the jaws are divided into four quadrants. They are numbered clockwise starting with the upper right. Each quadrant is bounded by the midline between the central incisors. Together with the tooth number, the quadrant gives the position of a tooth so that its location is clear.

Mercury, a silvery, lustrous chemical element. At room temperature mercury is liquid and evaporates, and the vapour is toxic. In dentistry mercury is used in alloys with silver, copper, indium, tin and zinc – more rarely with copper or gold – under the name amalgam.