Anterior Guidance or Canine Guidance

The form or shape of your front teeth are necessary to protect your back teeth when you grind or gnash your teeth (ie Brux). Front teeth are long skinny teeth usually with a single root are designed to tear food. Their length serve to transmit through the bone of your skull or your jaw that the food is perhaps too hard to tear so you stop. However if you really need to crack open that crab claw or pistachio nut you would use your back teeth.

Back teeth are short with multiple roots are designed to crush hard things. The short, multiple roots serve to distribute the forces and you do not feel the tooth bending as much. Consequently molars can break each other in the opposing arch. This happens typically at night when you brux.

Worn or mal (bad) occlusion

Centrals, laterals and canine all worn flat by bruxism. The anterior teeth are either flat and in more severe cases presents with a an inverted smile line

Ideal Occlusion

The ideal shape of the front teeth is with centrals longer than the laterals and the canines are at the same level as the centrals. This will will give you a positive smile line

Without CANINE DISCLUSION back teeth will eventually get damaged