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314 HISTUitY 0¥ DENTAL SUEGERY
as a spring or lever in rotating the tooth. For retention, a small piece of
gold-plated wire was passed througb. the tube, secured by a pin and allowed to
rest upon an adjoining tooth on each side.
This was the simple beginning of what later developed into an elaborate
system of regulating known as the "Angle system,'" the central feature of
which is a wire avvh, conforming to the normal outline, operating in buccal
tubes attached to anchor bands on the molars and designed either to expand
ihe arch by virtue of the elasticity of the wire or to move individual teeth
through the agency of wire ligatures which join the teeth to the anh, causing
them to move in accord with its movement. The development of the system
also included the devising of a inimber of delicate instruments and accessories
for the attainment of more satisfactory results in regulating.
Dr. Angle's tirst set of appliances was patented in March, 1889, and placed
on sale by the Wilmington Dental Manufacturing Company, other patents
tr)llowing as the system developed. Five different series or editions of pamph-
lets describing the system were also issued between 1889 and 1897.
In 1900 Dr. Angle pid^lished his first elaborate volume, entitled '•Treat-
ment of Malocclusion of the Teeth and Fractures of the Maxillae," in which
he set forth clearly and at length his methods of operating, including the
devices which he had designed, with their methods of construction and opera-
tion. Aside from tlie inherent merits of the work in general, its value was
greatly enhanced by the numerous photographic reproductions of models show-
ing the various cases before and after treatment.
In 1907 another edition of the work was published, more elaborate and
comprehensive than the first, containing all of the advances made by the author
in the intervening years. In pam]ihlet No. 3, published in 1892, Dr. Angle
illustrates and describes his "Adjustable Clamp Band," whicli has ever since
been an important feature of bis owji and some other systems. In pamphlet
No. 4, published in 189.5,^ he advocates the use of soft brass wire for ligatures
instead of silk, and describes his method of using it. In 1899,- he brought
cut bis device, known as the "friction sleeve nut," to prevent the accidental
unscrewing of nuts on regulating devices, and later adopted and extended the
use of the "Baker Intermaxillary Elastics" for producing reciprocal movement
of teeth in both arches.
Dr. Angle was the first publicly to emphasize and incorporate in his writ-
ing- and teachings the views of Davenport, both in reference to the non-extrac-
tion of teeth for purposes of regulating and the importance of restoring normal
4.54.
' Also see Dental Cosmos, Vol. XLIV, p.
= Dental Cosmos, Vol. XLI, p. 863.