Glossary

Author: Glossary

  • Occupational performance

    A term used by occupational therapists to refer to a person’s ability to perform the required activities, tasks, and roles of living.  

  • Certified occupational therapy assistant

    An occupational therapy assistant who has passed the national certification examination.  

  • Secondary occupation

    Employment in addition to that for which one is primarily hired.  

  • Traumatic occlusion

    Injury to the tissues that support the teeth due to malocclusion, missing teeth, improper chewing habits, or a pathological condition that causes an individual to chew in an abnormal way. Excessive bite pressure can cause damage to the teeth.  

  • Habitual occlusion

    The usual relationship between the teeth of the maxilla and mandible that represents the maximum contact; this varies from individual to individual and is seldom ideal or true centric occlusion.  

  • Central retinal artery occlusion

    Blockage of blood flow to the retina (i.e., to the central retinal artery or one of its branches), resulting in sudden visual loss. The condition usually affects one eye. When the retinal artery is blocked by a blood clot, early thrombolysis sometimes provides sight-preserving therapy.  

  • Arterial occlusion

    A blockage of blood flow through an artery. It may be acute or chronic and occurs, for example, in coronary or in peripheral arteries. Patients with acute arterial occlusion have severe pain (e.g., angina pectoris), decreased or absent pulses, and mottling of the skin of an affected extremity. The occlusion is removed and blood flow…

  • Anatomical occlusion

    In dentistry, an occlusion in which the posterior teeth of a denture have masticatory surfaces that resemble natural, healthy dentition and articulate with the surfaces of similar or opposing teeth. The opposing teeth may be artificial or natural.  

  • Adjusted occlusion

    In dentistry, a colloquial term for equilibration.  

  • Persistent occiput posterior

    A fetal malposition; a cephalic presentation with the occiput directed toward the mother’s sacrum. Labor often is longer and the woman complains of back pain.