What is Dental Occlusion, and Why Is It Important?

Have you ever heard a dentist use the word “occlusion,” but you weren’t quite sure what it meant? In the dental field, occlusion refers to the position of your teeth when your jaw is closed, or more simply, your bite. Unknown to many, the alignment of your bite contributes greatly to your oral health, as well as your overall wellbeing. For example, if undiagnosed and left untreated, bite misalignments can induce a variety of issues, including:

Loosening of teeth
Tooth chips, cracks, and fractures
Tooth restoration damage
Recession of the gumline
Teeth clenching and grinding (bruxism)
Headaches
Jaw pain

So how do you know if your bite is aligned correctly? At Designer Smiles, Dr. Ann Haggard and Dr. Marcus Haggard employ an innovative diagnostic technology called T-Scan^® to analyze dental occlusion for our patients. By simply biting down on a special sensor, the T-Scan^® device will transmit detailed information about your occlusion to a chairside monitor on which you (and our dentists) can see which teeth touch first, how long they remain contact, how much force is applied in specific areas, and other important occlusion analytics.

Using this state-of-the-art system, our dentists can not only identify occlusion irregularities that currently (or have the potential to) cause issues, they can also develop the most efficient and effective treatment plan to alter your bite, if necessary.

Contact Our Office
For more information about the importance of dental occlusion, or if you would like to schedule an appointment at our office, please feel free to contact us today.