Mankind has been trying to straighten his teeth for thousands of years, but only in the last two centuries has real progress been made in the orthodontic science of brace-making.
Early Braces
Since ancient times, humans have been trying to straighten their teeth. Archaeologists have found mummies with metal bands wrapped around their teeth, Aristotle and Hippocrates discussed tooth straightening, and the Etruscans buried their dead with orthodontic devices. The first known ligature wire was found in a Roman burial. Even so, the science of orthodontics as we know it today did not emerge until the 19th century.
18th Century
In 1728, Pierre Fauchard published "The Surgeon Dentist." It had one chapter dedicated to straightening teeth; he developed the "bandeau" to help expand a patient's arch.
In 1757, Etienne Bourdet published "The Dentist's Art" with another chapter about tooth straightening. Bourdet was the first known dentist to extract teeth to fix crowding, and he proved that jaws grow. The stage was now set for modern orthodontics.
19th Century
In 1819, Christophe-François Delabarre introduced the wire crib, an early brace, and Edward Maynard first used gum elastics in 1843. The term "orthodontia" was first used in 1841 by Joachim Lafoulon.
The 19th century also saw the first orthodontics text book, by J.J. Guildford. Norman W. Kingsley published the first article about orthodontics, and the book "Treatise on Oral Deformities." John Nutting Farrar published "A Treatise on the Irregularities of the Teeth and Their Corrections."
20th Century
In the early 20th century, the appropriately-named Edward H. Angle designed the first classification system, still in use today, to measure malocclusions (misaligned teeth). He also founded the first orthodontics college, the first orthodontic journal, and started the American Society of Orthodontia. (The ASO became the American Association of Orthodontics in 1930, one year after the American Board of Orthodontics was founded.)
Early 20th-century braces were primarily made from precious metals, steel, gum rubber and vulcanite. It took until the late 1950s for stainless steel to be widely accepted as a suitable material for brace wires and other appliances.
Invisible Braces
Before the 1970s, braces were unwieldy, uncomfortable wrap-around devices--until dental cement was perfected. Then, cement-based braces became available. In 1972, the first self-ligating bracket, Ormco's Edgelock System, came out. This device did not need tie wires or elastic ligatures; they were built into the brackets themselves.
Also in the 1970s, Earl Bergesen, DDS created Ortho-Tain devices. Resembling plastic mouthguards, these were removable devices to be worn mostly at night.
In 1975 the first invisible braces (lingual braces, worn on the inside of the teeth) were introduced. In the early 1980s, tooth-colored or transparent braces made from ceramics and clear sapphires improved on this lingual method.
Modern Braces
In the late 20th century, NASA developed heat-activated, nickel-titanium wires which have proved superior for moving teeth.
In 2000, Zia Chishti and Kelsey Worth, neither of whom were dentists, created a system of removable braces called Invisalign. The concept of straightening teeth with a removable device had been around since 1945, but it took two MBA students and Silicon Valley venture capital to make the idea work.
Now, computers are used increasingly to create accurate images, detailed plans and to reduce discomfort and time spent wearing braces.
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