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Fun Stuff
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Very Boring Stuff
Orthodontics
Although teeth straightening and extraction to improve alignment of
remaining teeth has been practiced since early times, orthodontics
as a science of its own did not really exits until the 1880s. The
history of dental braces or the science of orthodontics is very complex.
Many different inventors helped to create braces, as we know them
today.
- In 1728, Pierre Fauchard published a book called
the "The Surgeon Dentist" with an entire chapter on ways to straighten
teeth. In 1957, the French dentist Bourdet wrote a book called
"The Dentist's Art". It also had a chapter on tooth alignment
and using appliances in the mouth. These books were the first
important references to the new dental science of orthodontics.
- Historians claim that two different men deserve
the title of being called "The Father of Orthodontics." One man
was Norman W. Kingsley, a dentist, writer, artist, and sculptor,
who wrote his "Treatise on Oral Deformities" in 1880. What Kingsley
wrote influenced the new dental science greatly. The second man
who deserves credit was a dentist named J. N. Farrar who wrote
two volumes entitled "A Treatise on the Irregularities of the
Teeth and Their Corrections". Farrar was very good at designing
brace appliances, and he was the first to suggest the use of mild
force at timed intervals to move teeth.
- Edward H. Angle (1855-1930) devised the first
simple classification system for malocclusions, which is still
in use today. His classification system was a way for dentists
to describe how crooked teeth are, what way teeth are pointing,
and how teeth fit together. In 1901, Angle started the first school
of orthodontics.
- In 1864, Dr. S.C. Barnum of New York invented
the rubber dam.
- Eugene Solomon Talbot's (1847-1924) was the first
person to use X-rays for orthodontic diagnosis.
- Calvin S. Case was the first person to use rubber
elastics with braces.
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