Untreated dentofacial deformity: in defence of Luis Suárez

Abstract

uring the recent FIFA World Cup in Brazil, one of the most ontroversial episodes concerned the conduct of Uruguayan orward Luis Suarez. In the second half of Uruguay’s group xture with Italy on 24 June 2014, he was involved in a colliion with Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini, and both ended p on the turf. There was immediate world-wide condemnation of a erceived third biting offence by Suarez, and FIFA promptly cheduled a disciplinary hearing. In his defence Suarez enied the charges and stated: “I lost my balance... falling on op of my opponent... I hit my face against [Chiellini], leaving small bruise on my cheek and a strong pain in my teeth”.1 he disciplinary panel, however, was not persuaded by this rgument, and issued an unprecedented and severe sanction hat included a total ban from all footballing activities for 4 onths. The punitive nature of the ban was influenced by the layer’s apparent lack of insight and remorse. The authors wish to highlight Suarez’s evident dentofacial eformity, which could partly explain his version of events nd Chiellini’s tooth-related bruising to his left shoulder. uarez has an untreated severe skeletal class II division 1 alocclusion with associated vertical maxillary excess. The ass media reported that Suarez’s defence was dismissed out f hand as ridiculous, and this could be because his maloccluion is not recognised. However, it has been well documented hat people with a severe class II malocclusion have a coniderably higher incidence of dental trauma as a result of ripping or falling, and in this instance, the collision involved a ace-to-shoulder mechanism, which could potentially be conistent with the contact being inadvertent as Suarez claimed. recent Cochrane systematic review highlighted the fact