What is it?

Broadly speaking, the occlusion of the teeth is the way the teeth of the upper and lower jaw make contact. When there is something wrong with this contact we speak of "mal-occlusion". Malocclusion manifests itself through chewing problems, damage to the soft mouth tissue, speech problems and/or visibly un-esthetic appearance of the mouth area.

What are the Symptoms?

There are two major causes for malocclusion:

In the latter case there are usually causes related to teeth problems (such as incorrect teeth implantaure teeth loss) or to abnormal oral habits (such as thumb sucking, lip or nail biting, etc).

What should one do?

Person suffering from malocclusion, be it for esthetic or functional reasons (i.e. chewing problems) are advised to consult a dentist specialized in such matters, a so-called Orthodontist.