Development of a concept

Chapter outline

History of orthodontics

Orthodontics, the oldest specialty in dentistry, dates back to the turn of the twentieth century. The Angle School of Orthodontia was founded in St Louis in the year 1900 and in the following year that the American Society of Orthodontists was formed.1

An awareness of unsightly appearance of ‘crooked teeth’ many centuries before has been reported in the literature.2 It is mentioned in the writings of Hippocrates (460–377 BC), Aristotle (384–322 BC), and Celsus and Pliny, contemporaries of Christ. Celsus noted in 25 BC that teeth could be moved by finger pressure. Pierre Fauchard, often called the father of modern dentistry, is generally given the credit for the first comprehensive discussion of ‘regulating teeth’. In his Treatise on Dentistry, published in 1728, Fauchard discusses the ‘bandelette’, now called the expansion arch. Since Fauchard, many pioneers in orthodontics have written about irregularities of the teeth. Names such as Hurlock, Hunter, Fox, Delabarre, Harris, Kingsley, Brown, Mortimer, Farrar and Talbot are associated with the development of orthodontics in the United States during the nineteenth century.3, 4

Edward H. Angle (1855–1930), who is regarded as the ‘Father of modern Orthodontics’ was the most commanding, most influential and prominent person in orthodontics. Almost as important were Calvin Case and Martin Dewey. The constant battles among Angle, Case and Dewey, in the contemporary literature and in and out of society meetings, only served to enhance interest in orthodontics and increase the dedication and devotion of their disciples.

The name of the specialty, ‘orthodontics’, comes from two Greek words: ‘orthos’, meaning right or correct, and ‘dons’, meaning tooth. The term ‘orthodontia’ was apparently used first by the Frenchman LeFoulon in 1839.

Sir James Murray (1909) realized that the suffix ‘ia’ properly referred to medical conditions (e.g. amnesia) and, therefore, suggested the term orthodontics. Subsequently, in 1976, ‘Dentofacial orthopedics’, suggested by BF Dewel, was included to depict the entire ambit of an orthodontist’s domain of authority.5 The contributions of various pioneers to the field of orthodontics are given in Table 1.1.

Definitions and divisions of orthodontics

Angle5 in 1907 stated that the objective of the science of orthodontics is ‘the correction of the malocclusions of the teeth’. In 1911, Noyes6 defined orthodontics as “the study of the relation of the teeth to the development of the face, and the correction of arrested and perverted development”.

In 1922, the British Society of Orthodontists proposed the following definition: Orthodontics includes the study of growth and development of the jaws and face particularly, and the body generally, as influencing the position of the teeth; the study of action and reaction of internal and external influences on the development, and the prevention and correction of arrested and perverted development.

The general field of orthodontics can be divided7 into four categories:

1. Preventive orthodontics, as the name implies, is action taken to preserve the integrity of what appears to be the normal occlusion at a specific time (Graber). Under the heading of...