page_title: Dental braces
section_title: 18th century
hierarchical_section_title: Dental braces / History / 18th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Pierre Fauchard's historical book Surgical dentist. The following artwork was obtained from The Library of French Medicine website available on http://www.bium.univ-paris5.fr/sfhad/vol1/art05/article.htm
context_page_description: Dental braces are devices used in orthodontics that align and straighten teeth and help position them with regard to a person's bite, while also aiming to improve dental health. Braces also fix gaps. They are often used to correct underbites, as well as malocclusions, overbites, open bites, deep bites, cross bites, crooked teeth, and various other flaws of the teeth and jaw. Braces can be either cosmetic or structural. Dental braces are often used in conjunction with other orthodontic appliances to help widen the palate or jaws and to otherwise assist in shaping the teeth and jaws.
context_section_description: Orthodontics truly began developing in the 18th and 19th centuries.
  In 1728, French dentist Pierre Fauchard, who is often credited with inventing modern orthodontics, published a book entitled "The Surgeon Dentist" on methods of straightening teeth. Fauchard, in his practice, used a device called a "Bandeau", a horseshoe-shaped piece of iron that helped expand the palate.
  In 1754, another French dentist, Louis Bourdet, dentist to the King of France, followed Fauchard's book with The Dentist's Art, which also dedicated a chapter to tooth alignment and application. He perfected the "Bandeau" and was the first dentist on record to recommend extraction of the premolar teeth to alleviate crowding and to improve jaw growth.
caption: Portrait of Fauchard from his 1728 edition of "The Surgical Dentist".
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