Deep Bite Malocclusion: A Comprehensive Review of Epidemiology, Etiology, Clinical Consequences, and Treatment Approaches

Deep bite, defined as excessive vertical overlap of the maxillary incisors over the mandibular incisors, is a highly prevalent and persistently challenging malocclusion, with reported prevalence ranging from 8.4% to 51.5% across populations. It is a clinical presentation rather than a single diagnosis, arising from dentoalveolar causes, an underlying hypodivergent skeletal growth pattern, or both, and its clinical consequences extend beyond occlusion to palatal and gingival soft-tissue trauma, accelerated incisal wear, and an association with signs of temporomandibular disorder. Effective management therefore requires distinguishing dental from skeletal etiology and identifying whether posterior extrusion, incisor intrusion, or both are indicated. In growing patients, anterior bite planes, bite turbos, and functional appliances exploit posterior dentoalveolar eruption to reduce overbite. In adolescents and adults, curve of Spee leveling with continuous archwires corrects the bite mainly through premolar and molar extrusion, whereas segmented intrusion arches, temporary anchorage device (TAD)-supported intrusion, and clear aligner therapy allow more direct incisor intrusion; recent meta-analyses show TAD-supported intrusion produces statistically greater, though often modestly larger, overbite reduction than conventional arches. Severe skeletal deep bite in nongrowing patients may require combined orthodontic-surgical treatment, including anterior segmental osteotomy. Long-term data indicate most corrections remain substantially stable, although partial relapse toward the original overbite is common. This review synthesizes epidemiological, etiological, clinical, and treatment-related evidence on deep bite malocclusion.