Occlusions

Occlusion is the act or condition of closing or being closed, or of obstructing an opening. The term comes from Latin occludere, meaning to close. In specialized contexts, occlusion denotes the blocking of one object by another or the contact between surfaces. It is a common concept in fields such as dentistry, computer vision, and medicine.

In computer vision and robotics, occlusion refers to a situation where part of a scene is hidden from view by another object. This complicates tasks such as object recognition, segmentation, and depth estimation. Approaches to handle occlusion include using temporal information from multiple frames, leveraging multiple viewpoints or depth sensors, building explicit occlusion models, and applying generative completion or inpainting to infer hidden regions.

In dentistry and maxillofacial anatomy, occlusion describes how the upper and lower teeth come together when the jaws close. Normal occlusion results in stable, functional contact, while malocclusion indicates misalignment or improper contact. Terms such as Class I, II, and III describe jaw relationships according to standard classification systems. Occlusal relationships influence chewing efficiency, wear patterns, and the planning of orthodontic or restorative treatments.

In medicine, an occlusion is a blockage that interrupts flow through a vessel or airway. Vascular occlusions, caused by thrombosis or embolism, can lead to ischemia and tissue damage and are managed with therapies such as thrombolysis, thrombectomy, or surgical bypass. Airway occlusion, though less common, is a critical emergency.

Occluded surfaces and contact relationships are often described using terms like occlusal (tooth surfaces involved in contact) and occluded vessels, reflecting the broad use of the concept across disciplines.