From intestinal ‘flavors’ to a flaunt of the gilded glow- humans have toothed it all!
The ‘taste’ would be one developed out of the universal desire in attaining the standards of beauty- in much perfection indeed even when we all have been imperfectly beautiful humans throughout the entire span of existence. And yet, notions of the symmetrical and the aligned and the matching have forever been dictating the terms in harbouring a innate desire for such beauty that tends as close as possible to perfectness. What better than would be more decipherable a flaunt of such beauty than what plays out through the most charming of all such flashes of near perfection encompassed by the human smile indeed?
Perfecting thus this radiating glow of beauty has always been an endeavor of our species and one that has been indulged in since rather ancient times. Syncing the alignment of that set of what endows beauty a different dimension in appeal through a bare all ‘audacity’ of the pearly whites is one facet of expression forever emphasised upon. And thus has prevailed a predisposition in perfecting this feature of perceived prettiness through such embraces that entails as a more than evident existence of the braces.
The orthodontic nature of identification of braces would be a much, much later happening in that specification, not emerging until as late as the 18th century at least. Even this modern day description of the brace would be predated by the very definite identity of the Bandeau entailing as a late 1600s reference by Pierre Fauchard, the father of modern day dentistry himself. Prior to that however and many centuries earlier in fact, braces would still be prominent in that preordained indeed premise of existence.
This is all rooted in ancientry, the requirement out of which braces came to be even when they wouldn’t be finding themselves definitely occurring as yet. Accounts dating back to as early as the 300-400 BC enlist the existence of braces as means in straightening teeth and fixing other such dental conditions. These braces of antiquity were worn by everyone, be it the Greeks or the Romans or the Egyptians of those times with even the Queen Cleopatra herself having a wire of gold tagged to her teeth.
Metals other than gold did the job as well in attending to many such requirements of aligning the position of the teeth. Why just metallic mediums though, other distinctive definitions too accrued to this intent of dentistry even when the formal premise of it did not even exist in much certainty. Most striking of all such identities would be what occurred as catgut, specifically in attending to issues that prevailed in the form of gaping spaces between these instruments of what facilitates everything from the very obvious functions in eating and speaking to addressing also essential ‘responses’ of clenching one’s teeth for instance.
Despite the more than assured and necessary existence of braces in some form since times rooted quite deep in history indeed, the documentation of their being in those early years does not emerge quite as a proper account. It wouldn’t definitely be until such period of classification alluded to as accounts of modern history that braces would be focused upon in the measure of what manifests indeed their very evident essence in asserting.
That brings into reference the rather recent timeline therefore of the 17th, 18th and following centuries when dentistry would be thrust upon as a distinct discipline of the medical. The continuing essence of its identity would however occur also as both a representation and a requisite in cosmetic intentions. For all its attending to fixing such images of the human teeth that is perceived as imperfect and is oftentimes also practically inconvenient, dental braces assumes indeed a character of greater serving.
The more definite manners in serving of such purposes attributed to braces would ensue sometime in the 19th century. The wire crib for instance was introduced in 1819 as a half circle device while gum elastics first found use in 1843 as attachment to the wire with dual explorations in convenience and comfort. Many such developments routinely followed through other counts of the 1800s, each significant in their own way of addressing and fixing many an issue even as a remarkably relevant breakthrough signified the last decade of the century.
The year was 1893 and the inventor identifying as American Henry Albert Baker who devised the Baker anchorage that combined the rubber tubing and the wire crib to incredible indeed effect. What was conveniently conjured up through such composition would be an elimination of the need to extract other teeth to obtain the requirement in space for setting straight the prerequisite of what mostly characterised beauty in all perfection.
With the premise thus set and the proceedings unfolding already across that arena of the mouthed, particular popularity would dawn upon braces in the years of the 20th century. It also would be a simultaneous occurring in identity for this device of varied functionality as far as the naming of it is concerned. All in all therefore, it indeed would be the years of the 1900s that would endow upon braces a recognition more definitely reputed than in any other time of history.
Even in such popularity though, braces would not find widespread use owing to them occurring as not exactly affordable. In fact it wouldn’t be until the 1970s that braces would shed their expensive status, derived out of a significant advancement made in dentistry as a whole. It would be the invention of a dental adhesive that ushered in this era of the embrace that braces braced one for. The earlier prevalence of metals as wires connecting the bands wrapped around the teeth thus would make way for stainless steel to account instead for that hold. And thus fell out of favor the golds and silvers as also the ivories and coppers and zincs in making braces more convenient and affordable an application easily availed of in many dimensions of functionality.
Of course more breakthrough in the context of dental braces would follow still in that decade even when the popularity of such development wouldn’t really impress the world till the closing years of the millennium. That relates to the innovation of invisible braces, that which in terms of more relevant currentness would occur in fact as an alternative to braces to be rather exact. When the concept was first scouted in vying to make the wearing of braces less apparent, it would be particularly an attempt at making them lingual to arrive thus at the end in invisibility.
That idea did indeed take off to some extent but a distinctive identity would not yet come to mark that development. Such recognition would elude still this assertion in immense utility till some couple of decades when a more exact allusion could be afforded. Invisalign is the trademarked popularity through which the identity of clear aligners find utmost representation today and has been groundbreaking indeed a dental deciphering ‘decoded’ in the year of 1997. For all its remarkable reputation though in this occurring of the orthodontics, Invisalign was the creation of two Stanford University graduates who however did not have any dental training.
That did not impede in any way Invisalign’s claim to fame, based of course on the convenience of its occurring as an aid in teeth straightening and/ or dental treatment that more than efficiently served the purpose while not being glaringly visible. There would be both advantages and disadvantages corresponding to this manner of seeking corrections to be made upon the set of human teeth. And that’s indeed the reason why this most recent, and equivalently therefore most modern of dental technologies is still alternated in use by other more traditional approaches in treating.
Thus there exists also today the option in choosing between the traditional metal braces or Invisalign as being far off options on the spectrum of such dentistry that can be occurring in medical as well as cosmetic terms of reference. Along this trail of the toothed, choices can also be made between ceramic braces and lingual braces, or between self- ligating braces and even 3-D braces. The latter of these options make for an interesting exploration indeed, employing modern day technology to ‘print’ custom-fit braces out of digital images. Self- ligating braces are no less intriguing assertions themselves as they operate through a sliding mechanism that has the wire move on its own to achieve the end in teeth straightening and unspacing and what not.
Apart from the apparent attempt in ‘fixing’ a crooked smile or the essential regarding in correcting bites, braces serve a number of other important purposes as well. A proper alignment of one’s set of teeth in their positioning as well as in shaping the jaws and to similar such effect also is necessary in many related capacities of human functioning. Braces thus are recommended by dentists as a corrective measure occurring as treatment for the many benefits they deliver. From helping prevent tooth decay and gum disease by enabling proper flossing and brushing to improving speech and digestion as well as in preventing bone erosion and dental injuries, these agents of commonly aesthetic appreciation prove to be far more versatile in their attending to the entire human anatomy. No wonder braces have managed to trace their relevance through the trails treaded by time.
