Have you ever wondered how we arrived at the modern state of brace hardware? You may be surprised to know that the history of braces begins in Ancient Greece and Rome.
Ancient Times: From Greece to Rome
- According to The Angle Orthodontist, the first to think about methods of straightening teeth were Aristotle and Hippocrates between 400 and 300 BC.
- The Etruscans, in ancient Italy, buried their dead with appliances that maintained spaces and prevented collapse of their teeth and jaws during life. Archaeologists have discovered mummified remains in various locations that have metal bands wrapped around the teeth.
- A Roman tomb has also been discovered in which the teeth were bound with gold wire, including documentation on the wire’s use as a dental device.
18th Century: A French Development
- The French dentist Pierre Fauchard is acknowledged as the father of modern dentistry. In 1728 he published a book that described various methods for straightening teeth. Fauchard also used a device known as a “blandeau” to widen the upper palate.
- Louis Bourdet was another French dentist who published a book in 1754 that discussed tooth alignment. Bourdet further refined the blandeau and was the first dentist to extract bicuspids, or the premolar teeth between canines and molars, for the purpose of reducing tooth crowding.
19th Century: Orthodontics Defined
- Orthodontics started to become a separate dental specialty during the early 19th century. The first wire crib was used in 1819, marking the beginning of modern orthodontics.
- During this period, gold, platinum, silver, steel, gum rubber, vulcanite, and occasionally wood, ivory, zinc, and copper were used — as was brass in the form of loops, hooks, spurs, and ligatures.
- Edward Maynard first used gum elastics in 1843 and E. J. Tucker began making rubber bands for braces in 1850.
- Norman W. Kingsley published the first paper on modern orthodontics in 1858 and J. N. Farrar was the first dentist to recommend the use of force over timed intervals to straighten teeth.
20th Century: New Materials Abound
- Edward Angle developed the first classification systems for malocclusions (misaligned teeth) during the early 20th century in the United States, and it is still in use today. Angle founded the American Society of Orthodontia in 1901, which was renamed the American Association of Orthodontists in the 1930s.
- By the 1960s, gold was universally abandoned in favour of stainless steel.
- Lingual braces were the “invisible” braces of choice until the early 1980s, when tooth-colored aesthetic brackets made from single-crystal sapphire and ceramics became popular.
Today
Arriving in the present, you need look no further than your own braces to see how far the field has come. Your treatment probably began with a 3-D model of your teeth, and computer modelling to customize your archwires. Or maybe you have self-litigating brackets, clear aligners, or resilient ceramic brackets with heat activated wires.
