Interesting Facts From The History Of Dental Braces!

Have You Ever Come Across This Line? Do You Think The Braces Actually Look Cool?

If your answer is no then, we guess you have never been introduced to the new age braces. the braces today come in various colors and types. You just need to pick the ones that suit your style. Kids who are advised to get braces on are going gaga over the options available. Red, pink, blue, yellow and what not. Not only kids the adults too have various options to get their crooked teeth straightened without getting noticed. Clear aligners, lingual braces are as good as not being noticed.

With technological developments, orthodontist – a branch of dentistry had evolved a lot. From being called as tin teeth or metal mouth the kids, teens and adults are now known as cool as they have the quirky braces.

But have you ever wondered as to how did all this started? What options do our ancestors had for crooked teeth? Or is it that they did nothing and made peace with it.

 

Let Us Just Take A Backseat And Dig In The Past

Braces are known to exist since ancient time. Archeologists have found metal bands wrapped around the teeth of ancient individual in 300-400 BC. It was hence found that Aristotle and Hippocrates discovered ways to get the teeth straightened if required. Hippocrates were the first to provide description of irregularities found in the tooth. During a research it was found that the Etruscan women were buried with dental appliances on to prevent teeth from falling in afterlife. A roman tomb was proof of such event. A gold wire and a small elastic wire were found attached to the brackets amongst the dead.

Roman philosopher and physician Celsus is known to bring the newly formed teeth into their proper position by applying pressure with his fingers. But all these researches could not be carried forwards due to poor preservation and lack of technology although, dentistry was progressing by 17th century.

Though wax impressions were known to be taken around beginning of 17th century, the real developments however were noticed only in 18th and 19th century. Orthodontist was getting recognized. Pierre Fauchard, a French dentist is known to publish a book titled ‘The Surgeon Dentist’ which was written on the methods of how to straighten teeth. He is well known as a dentist who invented modern orthodontics. It was he who used ‘Bandeau – a horse shaped iron piece’ to expand the palate. He was later considered as a ‘Father of Dentistry’.

Another dentist named Louis Bourdet, who was dentist to the king of France wrote a book on dentistry called ‘The Dentist’s Art’ which had a chapter on tooth alignment. He came to be known as a first dentist who recommended extraction of pre-molar to alleviate crowding.

It was only in 19th century that Orthodontics came into picture as a science of its own, a branch in dentistry. This widened the horizons for dentists to improve braces with advancement in instruments. This era saw a lot of advancement in orthodontics.

With the introduction of wire crib in 1819 by Delabarre, Contemporary orthodontics came into the picture. This was followed by gum elastic introduced by Maynard in 1843.

In 1850 tucker was the first to make rubber tubing from rubber bands. Then in 1858 Norman William wrote first article on Orthodontist and in 1880 published a book titled Treatise on Oral Deformities.

This was the era when a lot started been talked about in literary field. John Nutting Farrar wrote two volumes entitled – A Treatise on the irregularities of Teeth and Their Corrections. He also gave the concept of using mild force to move teeth.

Braces was first coined as a term in 20th Century. During this time dentists were working diligently to create advancements in dentistry. The concept of braces used today is different from it was in early 1900s. The dentists then, first used to wrap bands around each tooth and then connected it with a wire which helped the teeth to move in desired position.

The system of malocclusion class I, class II and so on was first given by Edwards Angle. The system created by him is used by dentists even today and help them explain crooked teeth, the way they are pointing and how the teeth fit together.

The wires used earlier were made up of Gold as it could be molded easily to wrap. The only concerning thing was the cost. The invention of stainless-steel wires resolved that implication.

Until 1970s the method used in orthodontic treatment was more or less the same. The major breakthrough was when adhesive was introduced in 1970s. This technique replaced the traditional method of wrapping the wire around each tooth. Instead the adhesive made brackets to stick directly to the teeth.

In addition to the major breakthrough, 1970s saw many such developments. The invisible braces were also tried for the very first time and the dentist in Japan & USA even tried to fix the braces from inside so that they are barely visible. This removed the physical barrier of visible wires.

After that there was no looking back. Time and again new developments are being made in orthodontics and we believe that there is still a long way to go.

Gone are the days when people use to actually search for metal braces cost in India as now people want those cool braces or the ones which are hardly visible.

The new searches now include lingual braces cost in India and so on. So get yourself the braces you desire and experience the most cool way of getting your teeth straighten.