http://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Dental_braces

Ancient[edit]
According to scholars and historians, braces date back to ancient times. Around 400-300 BC, Hippocrates and Aristotle contemplated ways to straighten teeth and i! "arious dental conditions. Archaeologists ha"e disco"ered numerous mummi ied ancient indi"iduals with what appear to be metal bands wrapped around their teeth. Catgut, a type o cord made rom the natural ibers o an animal#s intestines, per ormed a similar role to today$s orthodontic wire in closing gaps in the teeth and mouth. %&' (he )truscans buried their dead with dental appliances in place to maintain space and pre"ent collapse o the teeth during the a terli e. A *oman tomb was ound with a number o teeth bound with gold wire documented as a ligature wire, a small elastic wire that is used to a i! the arch wire to the bracket. *oman philosopher and physician Aulus Cornelius Celsus irst recorded the treatment o teeth by inger pressure.%&' +n ortunately, due to lack o e"idence, poor preser"ation o bodies, and primiti"e technology, little research was carried on dental braces until around the &,th century, although dentistry as a pro ession was by then making great ad"ancements.

18th century[edit]

-ortrait#s o the &,./ "ersion o 0auchard#s book, the "Surgical dentist".

1rthodontics truly began de"eloping in the &,th, &/th, and &2th centuries. 3n &,./, 0rench dentist -ierre 0auchard, who is o ten credited with in"enting modern orthodontics, published a book entitled "The Surgeon Dentist" on methods o straightening teeth. 0auchard, in his practice, used a de"ice called a 4Blandeau4, a horseshoe-shaped piece o iron that helped e!pand the arch. 3n &,54, another 0rench dentist, 6ouis Bourdet, dentist to the 7ing o 0rance, ollowed 0auchard#s book with 8(he 9entist$s Art4, which also dedicated a chapter to tooth alignment and application. He per ected the 4Blandeau4 and was the irst dentist on record to recommend e!traction o the premolar teeth to alle"iate crowding and to impro"e :aw growth.

19th century[edit]
Although teeth and palate straightening and;or pulling was used to impro"e alignment o remaining teeth and had been practiced since early times, orthodontics, as a science o its own, did not really e!ist until the mid-&2th century. <e"eral important dentists helped to ad"ance dental braces with speci ic instruments and tools that allowed braces to be impro"ed.

3n &/&2, 9elabarre introduced the wire crib, which marked the birth o contemporary orthodontics, and gum elastics were irst employed by =aynard in &/43. (ucker was the irst to cut rubber bands rom rubber tubing in &/50. 9entist, writer, artist, and sculptor >orman ?. 7ingsley in &/5/ wrote the irst article on orthodontics and in &//0, his book, 4(reatise on 1ral 9e ormities4, was published. A dentist named @. >. 0arrar is credited or writing two "olumes entitled, 4A (reatise on the 3rregularities o the (eeth and (heir Corrections4 and was the irst to suggest the use o mild orce at timed inter"als to mo"e teeth.