The Tooth about Braces

Braces are a common bit of orthodontic life. If you haven’t worn braces (like me) you’ve talked about them at some point. It’s true that not everyone needs braces to be healthy, but some people do need them.

They can help stop sucking habits which can cause problems with your bite and sinuses among other issues. Braces can also be a part of treating temporomandibular joint syndrome, the inflammation or injury of the Temporomandibular joint which connects the jaw to the skull.

THE DEAD

Early examples of braces were found on the teeth of ancient Egyptian mummies. They used a cord of animal hide fastened to the teeth, known as catgut.

Ancient Greeks and Etruscans used a device similar to a mouthguard around 1000 BC. It was used to keep the teeth in place after death and protect the body. The guard was part of a ceremony that prepared the body for the afterlife, researchers believe.

Archeologists have found roman burials that included a small gold ligature wire wrapped around the person’s teeth. It’s believed the wire may have been used for moving crooked teeth.

PRESSURE

The first recorded effort for straightening the teeth of a living person comes from Rome. Aulus Cornelius Celsus tried moving his teeth by pressing certain points with his fingers and claimed to have success over time.

DENTISTRY BOOKS

In Pierre Fauchard’s book published in 1728, “The Surgeon Dentist,” he wrote about something called a Bandeu. It was used to keep the arch of a patient’s mouth and teeth in a natural position.

In 1757, Pierre Bourdet was dentist to the King of France and published his own book “The Dentist’s Art.” He improved the Bourdeu and discovered that back wisdom teeth could be removed from the mouth to make more room. Crowding can still cause crooked teeth in adults.

CREATION

Over the years braces have gone through many changes. In 1819 the first wire cribs were created by Christophe-Francois Delabarre. They were shaped in semi-circles and attached to the teeth, to hopefully keep the teeth in place.

 In 1843 elastics were added by Dr. Edward Maynard to help jaw alignment.  E.J. Tucker made the braces more comfortable to wear by using rubbing tubing in 1850. In 1864, Dr. S.C. Barnum created the dental dam, which prevents damage to the gums while fitting braces, and has helped with further development of braces.

In 1893 Henry A. Baker combined the rubber tubing and wire crib, which meant dentists didn’t need to remove teeth to fit the device in a patient’s mouth. The term ‘braces’ was first used in the 1900’s.

Eventually, bands were wrapped around each tooth, attached to a wire and tightened to make adjustments over time. Dentists used what they could get their hands on for these braces, but gold was always popular and still is for some procedures. In the 1970’s stainless steel became available and dentists began using adhesives, shortening the length of time needed for wearing the braces.

3D

In 1997 Zia Chishti and Kelsey Wirth created a system of invisible liners. Chishti realized his teeth shifted without the use of his retainer. He began working with Wirth to make a system of 3D-printed aligners.

It starts with photos of the patient’s mouth, and a custom printed aligner. Over time more photos and aligners are used to shift the teeth into the correct position. Wirth and Chishti made they’re product available in 2000. We know it as Invisalign.

MY THOUGHTS

I never wore braces, so I don’t know how painful they are, but it always sounded nasty. Anyway, I was surprised at how long people have been using some type of braces. Honestly, the last place I expected to hear about in my research was ancient Egypt and Greece. How old did you think braces were before reading this?

CONCLUSION

It was good enough for ancient Egyptian mummies and it’s still good enough for many of us. Yes, we no longer use cat gut on our teeth, but we still desire straight teeth both for aesthetic and medical reasons. As usual the people of the ancient past were on to something and the people after them worked to improve it.