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316 HISTORY OF DENTAL SUKGEKY

chanical treatment of irregularities, liis extended rcsearclies through thirty
years as to tlie main factors in the production of dental disarrangement, have
produced results which have had lai-ge influence in advancing both the science
and practice of orthodontia.
In the spring of 1803 H. A. Baker devised an appliance for "correcting
protruding and receding jaws," which, wiiile exceedingly simple, was destined
to become far reaching in its application to the correction of certain types of
dental irregularities.' It was designed to meet tlie conditions of a child of
twelve years whoselower jaw had failed to develop in iiarinony with the upper,
thus presenting a decided ease of lower retrusion. All of the lower teeth
occluded one step back of their normal positions and the problem ]iresented was
that of moving these teeth forward ni masse and obtaining a suitable means of
anchorage within the mouth Ixom which to exert the necessary force.
A careful study of the case led Dr. Baker to the conclusion that by joining
the upper teeth together they would serve as an anchorage, and that by also
joining the lower ones so as to cause tliem to move as one body and applying
Kuitable force between the two jaws, the teeth might be brought into normal
relation. He therefore adjusted a wire arch to the upper teeth and a similar
one to the lower. Then by slipping an elastic rubber band over the end of tlie
tube on the lower molar anchor band, he carried it forward and tied it to the
upper wire arch in the region of the lateral or cuspid. This being done on
each side, traction was produced which, in the course of two months, resulted
in bringing the lower jaw or teeth forward into normal occlusion with the
upper ones. Different means for ''jumping the bite" had been devised before,
but they were far slower in producing results and much more complicated.
Rubber ligatures had also lieen used before to operate between the upper and
lower teeth, but only for the purpose of elongating or extruding an incom-
pletely erupted tooth. This simple method of utilizing intermaxillary force
•was quickly adopted by practitioners of Orthodontia and was soon found to be
equally serviceable in retruding prominent upper teeth or in producing
both retrusion of the upper and protrusion of the lower at the same time.
Indeed, it completely solved the long considered problem of quickly and easily
moving the mass of teeth in either arch into normal occlusion and relation.
The benefits conferred by this simple and effective method may be regarded
as constituting a decided land-mark in the progress of orthodontic practice.
At the Columbia Dental Congress in 1893, Dr. C. S. Case, read a notable
paper ^ on "The Estlietic Correction of Facial Contours," in which he set forth
1 International Pental Journal, Vol. XXV, p. 344.
^ Dental Cosmos, Vol. XXXVIF, p. 00.5.