In the United States, the most widely used classification system for jaw deformities is the one provided by the International Classification of Diseases, Clinical Modification (ICD-CM), a taxonomy scheme that is based on the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases (ICD).
The last iteration of ICD-CM, version 10, sorts jaw deformities according to geometry, into 3 groups: anomalies of jaw size, anomalies of jaw-cranial base relationship, or unspecified. Yet these deformities can affect 6 different geometric attributes: size, position, orientation, shape, symmetry, and completeness.
In clinical practice and in teaching we have found the ICD-CM classification to be incomplete and disjointed. With this in mind, we have developed a better classification system. The purpose of this paper is to present it.