Removable Appliances

Removable appliances can be placed into and taken out of the mouth by the patient. They are usually held into place with a wire clasp that fits around several of the teeth.

The first removable appliance was used by the German dentist Friedrich Christoph Kneisel in 1836. Early appliances were made of precious metal or ivory baseplates and were kept in place with caps over the molars or simple clasps. Teeth were adjusted with expansion screws, simple arch wires or hickory wood pegs, which were inserted into holes in the plate. As the pegs swelled with the moisture from the mouth, they pushed the teeth into new positions.

Vulcanite, a type of vulcanised rubber, was introduced in the 1850s and made removable appliances cheaper and easier to produce. Vulcanite was replaced with acrylic in the 1930s, making removable appliances more accessible.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the majority of orthodontics was carried out by general dental practitioners using removable appliances. This was still the case when the NHS was introduced in 1948. Removable appliances were favoured by the NHS as a cost-effective treatment provided by dentists with little orthodontic experience, as at that time there were only 10 specialist orthodontists in the UK and fixed appliances were expensive and time consuming.

Developments in fixed appliance technology since the 1970s has seen a decline in the use of removable appliances although they continue to be used to treat simple malocclusions.