Dental Terms in Spanish: Clear Vocabulary to Connect with Patients

Key takeaways

• Dental appointments involve high-stakes communication: patients who cannot describe pain or understand instructions leave with incomplete care and anxiety about returning.
• Spanish dental vocabulary divides naturally into four areas: anatomy (naming the parts), symptom description (what the patient feels), procedure explanation (what the dentist will do), and post-care instructions.
• Many dental terms in Spanish are cognates (dental, molar, corona, anestesia, fluoruro), which reduces the learning burden significantly.
• Patient trust in a clinical setting comes partly from being addressed in their own language; even partial Spanish fluency shifts the dynamic from confusion to reassurance.

Serving Spanish-speaking dental patients well depends on more than goodwill. A patient who cannot describe the type or location of pain may receive treatment that misses the actual problem. A patient who does not understand post-extraction instructions may not follow them, and may not return for the follow-up.

This guide covers dental Spanish organized around the actual appointment sequence: tooth and mouth anatomy, how patients describe pain, phrases for the front desk and the chair, vocabulary for common procedures, how to explain those procedures plainly, and the post-care instructions patients need to hear clearly.

italki, operating since 2007 with 10M+ learners, connects healthcare professionals with Spanish teachers who specialize in medical and professional contexts and can role-play clinical scenarios in real time. Find a Spanish tutor who works with healthcare language and build the conversational fluency this setting requires.

Tooth and mouth anatomy in Spanish

English	Spanish	Pronunciation guide
Tooth	diente	DYEHN-teh
Teeth	dientes	DYEHN-tess
Molar	muela / molar	MWEH-lah / moh-LAR
Wisdom tooth	muela del juicio	MWEH-lah del HWEE-syoh
Incisor	incisivo	een-see-SEE-voh
Canine tooth	canino	kah-NEE-noh
Gum(s)	encía / encías	en-SEE-ah / en-SEE-ahs
Jaw	mandíbula	man-DEE-boo-lah
Upper jaw	maxilar	mak-see-LAR
Tongue	lengua	LENG-gwah
Lip	labio	LAH-byoh
Cheek	mejilla	meh-HEE-yah
Palate (roof of mouth)	paladar	pah-lah-DAR
Root (of tooth)	raíz	rah-EES
Crown (natural)	corona	koh-ROH-nah
Enamel	esmalte	ess-MAL-teh
Nerve	nervio	NEHR-byoh
Cavity / decay	caries	KAH-ryess
Plaque	placa (dental)	PLAH-kah
Tartar	sarro / tártaro	SAH-rroh / TAR-tah-roh
Filling	empaste / relleno	em-PAHSS-teh
Root	raíz del diente	rah-EES del DYEHN-teh

Muela is the everyday colloquial word for molar. Patients will use this word rather than molar. Similarly, caries (cavity) is both singular and plural in Spanish (una caries, tres caries). It does not change form.

Describing pain and symptoms

This is the section that matters most for diagnosis. Patients with limited Spanish vocabulary will attempt to describe what they feel using basic words; these are the ones to recognize.

Pain types:

Spanish	English	Pronunciation
Me duele mucho.	It hurts a lot.	meh DWEH-leh MOO-choh
Tengo un dolor agudo.	I have a sharp pain.	TEHN-goh oon doh-LOR ah-GOO-doh
Es un dolor sordo / pulsante.	It’s a dull / throbbing pain.	doh-LOR SOR-doh / pool-SAHN-teh
Me duele al morder.	It hurts when I bite.	meh DWEH-leh al mor-DEHR
Me duele al tomar algo frío / caliente.	It hurts with cold / hot.	ah TOHN-mar AL-goh FREE-oh / kah-LYEHN-teh
Tengo una inflamación.	I have swelling.	een-flah-mah-SYOHN
Tengo la encía inflamada.	My gum is swollen.	en-SEE-ah een-flah-MAH-dah
Se me cayó un empaste.	I lost a filling.	seh meh kah-YOH oon em-PAHSS-teh
Tengo un diente roto.	I have a broken tooth.	DYEHN-teh ROH-toh
Me sangran las encías.	My gums bleed.	meh SAHN-grahn lahss en-SEE-ahss
Tengo mal aliento.	I have bad breath.	mahl ah-LYEHN-toh

A clinical question that gets specific information quickly: ¿Dónde exactamente le duele? ¿Puede señalar? (Where exactly does it hurt? Can you point to it?)

Pain scale: En una escala del uno al diez, ¿cómo es el dolor? (On a scale from one to ten, how is the pain?)

Appointment phrases for the front desk and chair

At reception:

Situation	Spanish
Greeting	Buenos días, ¿en qué le puedo ayudar?
Asking about the appointment	¿Tiene cita hoy? / ¿A qué nombre está la cita?
New patient	¿Es la primera vez que viene a esta clínica?
Insurance	¿Tiene seguro dental?
Asking about the chief complaint	¿Por qué viene hoy? ¿Tiene algún dolor o molestia?
Asking about allergies	¿Tiene alguna alergia a medicamentos, especialmente a la penicilina o a la anestesia?

In the chair:

Situation	Spanish
Asking the patient to open wide	Abra la boca, por favor.
Asking for wide open	Un poco más, por favor. Todo lo que pueda.
Asking them to rinse	Enjuáguese, por favor.
Telling them to stay still	Quédese quieto/a, por favor.
Asking if they feel pain	¿Siente dolor? / ¿Le molesta?
Telling them you’re almost done	Ya casi terminamos.
Asking them to close gently	Cierre la boca despacio.

For dental professionals who want to build fluency in real patient scenarios, working with a Spanish tutor who focuses on professional or medical Spanish can be significantly faster than general language study. Role-playing appointment dialogues in real time builds the kind of automatic language that clinical situations require.

Common dental procedures in Spanish

English	Spanish	Notes
Cleaning / prophylaxis	limpieza dental	The everyday word; profilaxis is formal
X-ray	radiografía / rayos X	Both are understood
Filling	empaste / obturación	Empaste is colloquial and widely understood
Extraction	extracción	Sacar un diente (to pull a tooth) is the phrase patients use
Root canal	endodoncia / tratamiento de conductos	Endodoncia is standard clinical terminology
Crown	corona	Same word as the anatomy term
Dental implant	implante dental
Braces	brackets / aparatos	Brackets is widely used; aparatos is colloquial
Retainer	retenedor
Whitening	blanqueamiento dental
Anesthesia	anestesia	Cognate, easy for patients to recognize
Injection / shot	inyección / pinchazo	Pinchazo is the colloquial word patients often use
Sutures / stitches	puntos / sutura	Puntos is colloquial; sutura is clinical

Explaining procedures to patients

Clear pre-procedure explanation in a patient’s language significantly reduces anxiety. These sentences are designed for natural delivery, not clinical jargon.

Before anesthesia:

Voy a ponerle una inyección para adormecer la zona. Va a sentir un pequeño pinchazo, y luego no va a sentir dolor. (I’m going to give you an injection to numb the area. You’ll feel a small pinch, and then you won’t feel pain.)

Before an extraction:

Vamos a extraer este diente. Primero voy a adormecerlo. Puede sentir presión, pero no dolor. Si siente dolor en algún momento, levante la mano. (We are going to extract this tooth. First I’ll numb it. You may feel pressure, but not pain. If you feel pain at any point, raise your hand.)

Before a filling:

Tiene una caries en este diente. Vamos a limpiar el área afectada y poner un empaste. El procedimiento dura unos veinte minutos. (You have a cavity in this tooth. We are going to clean the affected area and place a filling. The procedure takes about twenty minutes.)

During root canal:

Va a necesitar una endodoncia. Eso significa que vamos a tratar el interior del diente para eliminar la infección. Necesitará dos o tres citas. (You will need a root canal. That means we will treat the inside of the tooth to remove the infection. You will need two or three appointments.)

Even a partial explanation in Spanish, combined with pointing and simple words, builds patient confidence. A Spanish teacher who works with healthcare professionals can help structure these explanations for clarity and register, ensuring the language sounds reassuring rather than alarming.

Post-procedure instructions

Post-care is where compliance depends on comprehension. These instructions must be clear.

After an extraction:

• Muerda suavemente la gasa durante treinta minutos. (Bite gently on the gauze for thirty minutes.)
• No escupa ni se enjuague con fuerza durante las primeras veinticuatro horas. (Don’t spit or rinse forcefully for the first 24 hours.)
• Evite comer del lado operado. (Avoid eating on the treated side.)
• No fume ni beba alcohol las próximas 48 horas. (Don’t smoke or drink alcohol for the next 48 hours.)
• Si tiene mucho dolor o sangrado, llámenos. (If you have a lot of pain or bleeding, call us.)

After a filling:

• No coma nada durante una hora. (Don’t eat anything for one hour.)
• Puede sentir sensibilidad en el diente durante algunos días. (You may feel sensitivity in the tooth for a few days.)
• Si el empaste se siente alto al morder, vuelva para que lo ajustemos. (If the filling feels high when you bite, come back so we can adjust it.)

After a root canal:

• Tome el medicamento que le receto, aunque no tenga dolor. (Take the medication I prescribed, even if you don’t have pain.)
• Evite morder con ese diente hasta que tenga la corona definitiva. (Avoid biting with that tooth until you have the permanent crown.)
• Es normal sentir sensibilidad los primeros días. (Some sensitivity in the first few days is normal.)

General follow-up reminder:

Regrese en [X] días / semanas para la cita de seguimiento. (Come back in [X] days / weeks for the follow-up appointment.)

The difference a few hours of Spanish makes in a clinical setting

Patient trust in a dental setting builds on being understood. A professional who can describe a procedure clearly, ask where it hurts, and give discharge instructions in a patient’s own language is doing something a translation app cannot replicate in a clinical moment. The vocabulary in this guide covers the framework. Making it usable under pressure requires practice in realistic dialogue.

italki, operating since 2007 with 10M+ learners, connects healthcare professionals with Spanish teachers who specialize in professional and medical contexts. A few sessions of clinical role-play with a Spanish tutor can take this vocabulary from recognition to production. Book a trial lesson and tell the tutor you need to practice a dental appointment from reception to post-procedure instructions.

FAQ

What is the most common word for “cavity” in Spanish?

Caries (KAH-ryess) is the standard term, used by both patients and clinicians. It is both singular and plural: una caries, dos caries. Some patients say picadura (literally “bite” or “hole”) informally.

How do you say “your tooth needs to be pulled” in Spanish?

Hay que sacar este diente or vamos a extraer este diente. Patients often say arrancar (to pull out) colloquially, but clinical settings use extraer or sacar.

What is the word patients use for “the shot” at the dentist?

Pinchazo (pinch, shot) is the most natural word patients use. Clinically, it is inyección de anestesia. Using pinchazo in explanation sounds natural and reassuring: “Voy a darle un pinchazo para adormecer la zona.“

How do you ask a patient if they are allergic to penicillin?

¿Es alérgico/a a la penicilina? For a broader allergy question: ¿Tiene alguna alergia conocida a medicamentos o materiales dentales? (Do you have any known allergies to medications or dental materials?)

What does “enjuáguese” mean and when do you say it?

Enjuáguese means “rinse”, from the verb enjuagarse. Use it when asking the patient to rinse with water during or after the procedure: Enjuáguese con agua, por favor.