Premolar teeth

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Overview of all the maxillary and mandibular teeth.

Premolar teeth are the bicuspid teeth located distal to the canine teeth and proximal to the molar teeth in adult dentition. They are unique to adult dentition and replace the deciduous molar teeth. In total there are eight premolars: four maxillary and four mandibular (two in each quadrant). Typically, the first premolars erupt between 10-11 years of age, followed by the second premolars between 11-12 years of age. Similar to molar teeth, premolars function to grind food via the cusps, pits and fissures on their surface. 

Both the first and second mandibular premolars typically have just one root. Likewise, the maxillary second premolar also usually has just a single root. The maxillary first premolar is the most variable, it most commonly has two roots, however it may often only have one root, or on the rare occasion even three roots.