When an orthodontist talks about your Occlusion, it refers to the way your upper and lower teeth come together. Another word for Occlusion is “Bite.” If your bite flawed, it is called a Malocclusion (Mal is the Latin prefix for “bad,” and Occlusion is the term for “bite;” so a Malocclusion literally means a “bad bite.”)
There are several types of malocclusions, where the teeth do not meet properly. The most common are: cross bite, open bite, under bite, deep bite, crowding, spacing, and protrusion. These are each explained in their own separate Glossary entries.
Synonyms:
Bite