When Were Braces Invented? A History of Alignment
Table of Contents
- Early Civilizations
- 19th Century European Dental
- When Were Braces Invented?
- 20th Century Braces
- 21st Century Dental Devices
When were braces invented? The earliest versions were developed in Paris in the 18th century, and they involved horseshoe-shaped gold strips. By the 1950s, we evolved to wires wrapped around our teeth. It wasn’t until the 1970s that braces we might recognize appeared. And now, aligners have changed everything.
An estimated 50% to 70% of American children will wear braces before they reach adulthood. And of those who wear braces, one in three is an adult, proving that it’s never too late to get a better smile.
Understanding the history of braces can help you develop a healthy respect for the devices sitting on your teeth. After all, hundreds of years of research and experimentation went into those devices.
When were braces invented? A timeline
This timeline can help you understand when braces were invented and some of the major players involved:
18th century: Pierre Fouchard published a book about dental practices in 1819, including foundational materials for orthodontics. Some dentists began to use metal devices to widen the jaws of their patients and make room for teeth by 1822.
19th century: Precursors to modern braces were applied to teeth in 1819 by Christophe-Francois Delabarre. The earliest forms of headgear were developed in 1822 by J.S. Gunnel.
20th century: Stainless steel brackets are developed, and new bonding materials allow them to be glued to teeth. During this century, brackets get smaller and more comfortable.
Late 20th and early 21st century: Clear aligners are developed, and the technology improves over time.
Early Civilizations & Dental Devices
Historians note that some Egyptian mummies have the remnants of what appear to be dental appliances similar to braces. These crude metal bands, often made from gold, were found around some teeth, and they seem to be anchor points for catgut wiring that may have attached to cause dental realignment.
Other burials, including some Egyptian mummies as well as Etruscans and Romans, have gold or other metal wires wrapped through their teeth. However, archaeologists believe this wiring was part of burial practice rather than a device used while the person was alive.
Roman philosopher and medical practitioner, Aulus Cornelius Celsus was reportedly the first in the Western world to write about dental treatment. He recommended that children’s caregivers apply pressure with a finger to the teeth daily, so that dental alignment would be better as the child grew up.
During the medieval period in Europe, little recorded progress was made in any medical science, although dental practice became a field of study at universities by 1580. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, medical students and philosophers studied ailments associated with the mouth and teeth. Still, few approaches to long-term treatment or alignment were considered since the focus was on treating infection and removing teeth.
Dental Practice & Devices in Europe Through the 19th Century
Pierre Fauchard practiced early dentistry in Paris in the 18th century, and his techniques and theories have led him to be called “the father of orthodontia.”
He developed the concept of braces through the bandeau, although it is unlikely he ever created or used one in his practice. The bandeau was a horseshoe-shaped strip of metal, likely gold, that was attached to the teeth to pressure and push them into alignment.
Fauchard was known to use a device called a pelican, a type of forceps, to reposition teeth, which he then ligated together until they healed. This was an early approach to realigning some malocclusions.
Etienne Bourdet, the dentist to the King of France in the 18th century, used Fauchard’s bandeau idea to expand the palate, which allowed for reduced crowding of teeth. Later that century, John Fox, a student of English surgeon and anatomist John Hunter, created theories for braces and arches to expand the jaw and improve tooth alignment, including explicit directions to correct dental alignment problems.
In the early 19th century, Christophe Francois-Delabarre used swelling threads or wood wedges between teeth to adjust crowding.
By the 19th century, J.M. Alexis Schange introduced a modified screw for tightening, the clamp band, and after the rubber vulcanization process was developed, rubber bands to ligate teeth together.
Friedrich Christoph Kneisel, the dentist to Prince Charles of Prussia, and John Tomes used chin straps to adjust jaw problems and removable metal appliances to adjust malocclusions. William and Magill developed the idea of bands on the molars, which became one of the foundations of modern braces.
Finally, John Nutting Farrar, the “father of American orthodontics,” published The Irregularities of the Teeth and Their Correction. This publication advocated specific dental appliances to realign teeth along with specific traction and pressure, and ways to work with the roots to safely move teeth.
As approaches to treating and removing malocclusions are improving, the cost of orthodontics is going down.
True braces developed in the 20th century
In the early 20th century, Edward Hartley Angle founded the first School of Orthodontics in St. Louis. It expanded to New London in Connecticut and then to Pasadena, California.
Angle was born in 1855, and he started training as a dentist early in life and worked for a local dentist until 1876, when he left to attend dental school in Pennsylvania. Once he graduated, he started working as a dentist and taking patients. He began focusing on orthodontics in the 1880s and published books on the subject in the 1890s.
His malocclusion classification system is still used, and he developed many of the ideas that led to modern braces, including the E-arch and edgewise appliances. He is considered the pioneer of braces, holding 37 patents in his lifetime for several dental tools.
Calvin Case studied several types of prosthetics, including dental prosthetics and orthodontics, but left a professorship to focus on orthodontia. He stressed the importance of root movement, not just tooth movement, and he was the first to use rubber elastics in modern dental treatment. He also used light, small gauge wires for safely shifting teeth.
Braces were still out of reach for anyone who was not wealthy until the 1950s, when stainless steel became the go-to option for brackets, screws, wires, and bands. Before then, the best option had been gold, which was pricey but durable.
In the 1970s, dental professionals started using nickel titanium wires to help their patients. These wires were stronger than older versions, but they were also deeply flexible. Doctors could bend them and shape them to attach brackets for their patients and move their teeth properly.
Before the 1970s, braces involved wires wrapping around teeth. Everything changed with the development of adhesives. Chemists developed a strong and versatile substance that could bond the metal of a bracket to the enamel of a tooth. With direct bonding, wires could glide through the brackets to connect the teeth.
In the 1980s, patients wore bulky brackets that snapped open and closed to hold their wires. However, inventors developed new brackets that held the wire via a system of rubber bands. Patients who wanted a flash of color with their smiles could choose bright bands, while more discreet people could keep them clear.
Dental devices in the 21st century & beyond
Once metal brackets and wires allowed for light, fast, and less painful braces, variations on this system were developed. Plastic and metal retainers were added to treatment plans to keep teeth straighter for longer. These retainers soon became entirely plastic, which led to the development of clear, plastic aligners.
In fact, the clear plastic aligner was only invented as recently as 1997 by Zia Chishti and Kelsey Wirth. Chishti attended Stanford and went through orthodontic treatment. That experience inspired the inventor in Chishti, and a collaboration with Wirth began.
The pair of Stanford graduates used computer modeling to take impressions of misaligned teeth, follow their path to better alignment, and design a series of durable plastic dental trays that would mark each step in the realignment process. The company Invisalign came out of this design and began treating their first patients in 2000.
In fact, a revolution in over-the-counter clear aligners, based on the original Invisalign concept, has allowed more adults to take their smiles into their own hands.
It is still important to visit your dentist regularly, and follow any treatment advice or prescriptions they give to manage your oral health. But clear teeth aligners now offer people the option to get straight teeth at home easily and at a lower cost than ever before.