Occlustion

Occlusion has several meanings in various fields; it came from the Latin word “occludere” which means “to close up”. In medicine, it refers to the blockage or obstruction of a hollow organ or blood vessel. For instance, a coronary occlusion is the obstruction of blood flow in a coronary artery which may result to a heart attack.

In dentistry, occlusion refers to the position of the teeth when they meet each other in chewing or when at rest. For instance, a dentist is asking his patient to “bite” so he can check if his occlusion is normal or if he has an overbite.

In meteorology, occlusion is the process of a cold front overtaking the warm front, forcing the warm air to go up. Hence, an occluded front is formed when warm air is separated and gets caught in between two masses of cold air.