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Edward H. Angle
Edward H. Angle was one of the
most influential orthodontists
in the 20th century, putting
orthodontics on a scientific
basis and making it an
independent specialty of the
dental profession.
stealing their designs. Angle
denied these accusations. The
publication of this paper in an
1887 textbook by Loomis P.
Haskell was considered the first
edition of his book, which was
published in seven repeatedly
revised editions until 1907.
Angle was born in Pennsylvania,
USA in 1855. He showed little
interest in school so, at the
age of 18, his mother arranged
an apprenticeship with a local
dentist. It immediately appealed
to him and he went on to attend
the Pennsylvania College of
Dental Surgery in Philadelphia,
where his interest in orthodontia
began to develop. After three
years in general practice,
Angle suffered a serious
respiratory illness and moved
back to Pennsylvania where he
established an ill-fated sheep
ranching business. After two
years, Angle returned to general
dental practice. In 1886 he
joined the Dental Department of
the Minnesota Hospital College
as a professor of histology
and lecturer on comparative
anatomy and orthodontia while
continuing his private practice.
In 1892 Angle resigned from
the University of Minnesota to
limit his practice exclusively to
orthodontia, thus becoming the
first specialist in orthodontics.
He later returned to teaching
and held the position of
Professor of Orthodontia
in several universities until
1899 when he resigned to
establish the Angle School
of Orthodontia. The school
opened in 1900 and was the
first to specialise in orthodontic
training. The curriculum
consisted of Angle’s treatment
techniques, which he had
previously taught in his private
practice. Financial support for
the school was provided by
the alumni and many students
who could not afford to pay
for tuition were taught for free.
Angle did not receive any profit
from the school. He believed
that trained practitioners were
required for orthodontics to
develop as a specialty. In
addition he realised that the
more orthodontists there
were using his appliances, the
more he would make through
royalties. At the school Angle
demanded full conformity
with his methods. Continued
questioning of his techniques
could lead to expulsion from the
course. Despite this students
gathered at the school from
across the world, with many
graduates going on to become
leaders in the field.
During this time, Angle began
developing his ideas for new
appliances. On 8 September
1887 he presented a talk
entitled ‘Notes on Orthodontia
with a New System of
Regulation and Retention’ at
the Ninth International Medical
Congress. The talk included
his classification of tooth
movements and orthodontic
appliances of his own design,
such as the jack and traction
screw. The talk was not well
received with several of the
attendees accusing Angle of
Angle believed that anomalies
of molar occlusion were prime
factors in the cause of most
orthodontic problems. He
popularised the word ‘malocclusion’ in the 1890s and
in 1899 published his article
Classification of Malocclusion.
The 1900 textbook which
followed contained the results
of the first epidemiological study
of malocclusion which included
several thousand cases. Prior
to this, orthodontic practitioners
had been treating crowding,
tooth gaps and displacement
by moving teeth and correcting
their alignment without
considering the relationship
between the upper and lower
jaws. Angle was strictly against
extraction, believing every
tooth had a normal position
and it was the orthodontist’s
responsibility to move each
tooth back to this position
and obtain normal occlusion.
This belief led to the extraction
controversy at the beginning of
the 20th century, when previous
followers of his technique, such
as Calvin Case, Raymond Begg
and Charles Tweed, began to
question this position.
Angle patented 45 inventions,
including orthodontic
appliances, instruments and
laboratory equipment. Angle
wanted to produce a system
of prefabricated components
which could be assembled by
practitioners to treat almost
every orthodontic patient. This
became the Angle System. In
1895 the S.S. White Dental
Manufacturing Company
became the sole distributor.
The system made orthodontic
treatment more accessible
and affordable. His most well
known innovations were the
E-Arch (1899), an expansion
arch appliance with threaded
ends which expanded the arch
perimeter; the Pin and Tube
appliance (1910) which used
a system of pins and tubes to
attach the arch wire to banded
teeth; the Ribbon Arch (1916)
which was the first appliance
to use a bracket, and the
Edgewise appliance (1925),
which had a bracket designed
to control tooth movement
in all three planes of space.
He kept control of these and
other developments in the
field through the E. H. Angle
Regulating Appliance Company.
Angle used precious metals
for his appliances, which was
common at the time, and nickel
silver, a copper alloy with zinc
and nickel.
Angle’s influence continued
for many years and his
classification of malocclusion
remains the most used
classification system today.
Sophie Riches
BOS Curator
Request for missing
volumes of
The Dental Practitioner
The museum is missing
volume 17, no. 7 and volume
20, no.5 from its collection
of The Dental Practitioner. If
you have a copy of either of
these volumes and would be
happy to donate them to the
museum, please contact the
curator at
[email protected]
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