Root Words, Prefixes and Suffixes Used in Dental Terminology

One of the fun parts of learning dental/medical terminology is making difficult, long, impressive-looking words understandable. By learning what the word parts mean, it is much easier to understand what a brand-new word is, even if you have never seen or heard it before. Most medical terms originated in either Greek or Latin.

Root words provide the basic foundation for the word and provide the main meaning. A prefix comes at the beginning of the root word and alters the word meaning. A suffix comes at the end of the root word and also alters the word meaning. A combining vowel, usually ‘o’ is used to join the word parts and make pronunciation easier.

The list of basic root words, prefixes and suffixes that follows is not intended to be all-inclusive, but will provide a starting place for commonly used word parts to assist in building a strong vocabulary. There are specific rules for combining words and for the order of the root words within a word, so it would be a good idea to study further to really understand how dental/medical terms are put together and read. Two excellent resources for additional medical terms are Building a Medical Vocabulary or Quick & Easy Medical Terminology both by Peggy C. Leonard, published by W. B. Saunders Company.