occlusal

What exactly is meant?

Occlusal refers to the chewing surface of the premolars and molars with their cusps, fissures, and fossae. The opposite direction is cervical, towards the gingival margin, and further apical towards the root tip. Derived from occlusal is occlusion, the contact between the dental arches of the upper and lower jaw. For front teeth, incisal takes the place of occlusal. Occlusion is at the same time the starting point for everything to do with the bite, chewing function, and grinding. Without stable contacts no filling and no crown fits properly, and a patient notices even a rise of a few hundredths of a millimetre.

How is the term combined with the tooth numbering system?

First the tooth number under the FDI tooth numbering system, then the surface. “Occlusal caries at 36” therefore means a lesion on the chewing surface of the lower left first molar. Multiple surfaces are often combined. An MOD filling extends from mesial across occlusal to distal — that is, from the surface facing the midpoint of the arch, across the chewing surface, to the surface facing away from it. Together with buccal and lingual this provides an unambiguous location on the tooth.

What graduates from EU countries should bear in mind

In English-language study programmes in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, or Croatia the term is “occlusal”; the system is identical. In German clinical records, treatment plans, and billing, however, the German spelling is expected. Anyone translating previous findings should check surface and tooth notations once too often rather than once too few. An incorrectly noted surface can trigger treatment on the wrong site. The surface designation also matters for billing, because the value of a filling depends on the number of surfaces involved.