We extracted a supernumerary tooth between #8 and #9 on an 8-year-old child. Could you please let us know how we should bill this? We know the CDT code (D7140) but do not know what tooth number to report.

Answer

Back in January 2003, the American Dental Association introduced a new system for reporting supernumeraries in CDT 4, which explains how to name permanent and primary supernumerary teeth.

Supernumerary teeth in the permanent dentition are identified by the numbers 51 through 82, beginning with the area of the upper right third molar. A quick way to identify the tooth number is to add the number 50 to the number of the closest permanent tooth. In other words, supernumerary #51 is closest to the upper right molar, which is tooth #1 (1+50=51). Supernumerary #82 is closest to the lower right third molar, which is tooth #32 (32+50 =82). In the scenario you described, the supernumerary tooth should be reported as tooth #58 or #59, depending on whether it is/was closer to tooth #8 or #9.

For primary dentition, supernumerary teeth are identified by adding the letter “S” to the letter that identifies the closest primary tooth. For example, supernumerary tooth “AS” is closest to primary tooth “A,” and supernumerary tooth “TS” is closest to primary tooth “T.”