The Historv of Articulators: A Perspective on the Early Yhars, Part I Edgar N. Starcke, DDS

OW A W C H do wc really know about the H origins of articulators? Before the 184~0s, a time that coincided with the development of dentistry as a profession in the United States, Europe was our principal source of dental knowledge and practices. Investigating the infancy of American dentistry is itself a challengc. Anecdotal information, inadequate historical records, and little carly scientific research have obscured much of what we know. It is not surprising that there are very few references to articulators in the early literature; however, since 1900, the distinction of “inventing the articulator” has been given to two prominent European dentists of the 18th and 19th centuries, Phillip Pfaff and Jean Baptistc Gariot.

In 1756, Phillip Pfaff, dcntist to thc court of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, first described his method of making plaster casts. He described a way of making imprcssions with sealing wax, one half of the mouth at a time, removing the sections individually, and reassembling them outside of the mouth. He then poured plaster into the impression.’ If natural teeth were present, PfafT had the patient bite into the wax so that the relationship of the teeth could be considered.* For this reason, it has been assumed that he used a device to preserve thc relationship of the casts. Some scholars thercfore believe that he was the first to use a dental articula- tore3 Even though this would seem logical, it can only be considered conjecture, bccausc Pfaff never men- tioned such a device.

In 1805, Jean Baptiste Gariot described his method of making plaster casts and extending them posteri- orly to provide an indexing mechanism for preseiving the relationship of the casts.“

Gariot was indeed the first to describe a “plaster

articulator” (see sidebar*). It was a simple plaster indexing procedure, which came to be known as the “oiled board” articulator (Fig 1): “Plaster articula- tors” were popular well into the 20th century, and through the years, many designs have been reported in thc literaturc. An early variation on the Gariot dcsign was called the “slab” articulator (Fig 2).G

Authors who described and used “plaster articula- tors” were Richardson, 1860,7 Coles, 1876; Peezo, 1916: and Essig, 1937.”’ It is also noteworthy that three U.S. patents for “plaster articulators” were granted betwccn 1857 and 1888:

A. A. Blandy of Baltimore, A I D . Patent #16,708,

G. F. Schaffer of New York, XY. Patent #99,698,

J. L. P. Lcmaii of Middlescx, England. Patent

March, 1857

February, 1870

#386,711, July, 1888

Conrspondrnce to: Edcar IV. Starcke, DDS, Clinical Pm+ssnr, I)P@r- m n t oJ‘ F’rosthodontiw; The Lhiuer-i@ of Texas Health Science Center, Houston Dental Brunch, E.516 John Freeman Avenue, P.O. Box 20068, Houston, TX 77225 E-mail, ~tarcke@muil.~b.uth,~mc.~du

Cowrizht 0 1999 ly The Amenran C:olfege ?rProsihodont& 10~9-94lXl~~l0803-0010$.5.00I0

Journal qjt’rosthodontics, Vol 8,Xo 3 (Stpemboj, 1999: pp 209-211 209

Figure 1. A stylized model of Gariot’s “oiled board” articulator. Posterior extensions to the casts were poured on an oiled board. Gariot made the indexing holes with his little finger.

The Gariot Articulator Myth A misconception regarding the contributions of J. B. Gariot to the development of articulators has per- sisted for nearly a century. Early authors, including Prothro,” Wilson,I2 Gillis,’ Hall,’* and Turner,I5 when reviewing the history of articulators, gave credit to Gariot for inventing the first mechanical hinge-type instrumcnt. Even recent authors, includ- ing Heartwell and Rahn,16 Scandrett,” Celenza,18 Mitchell and Wilkie,” and Becker and Kaiser:” by merely repeating statements of early authorities, havc contributed to the pcrpetuation of this “Gariot articulator myth.” Today, it continues to be found in

the literature and in school manuals and pro,gram study guides as well.

It is now clear that the origin of the myth is Vinccnto Gucrini’s paper, “Thc Historical Develop- ment of Dental Art,” read before the 3rd Interna- tional Dental Congress in 1900. Guerini stated that, “An eminent French dentist, Jean Baptiste Gariot, contemporary of Gardette, invented the articulator about 1805.” The paper was published in English in Dental Cosmos in 1901.Ll These facts and others were covered superbly by George B. Denton in 1933,2* but have been largcly overlooked. Denton suggested that because Guerini did not elaborate on his statement, dentists of the early 1900s incorrectly assumed that he was referring to the mechanical hinge-type articu- lator that was very commonplace by that time.

Returning to the opening question: Very little is known about thc origins of dental articulators. All that can be said with assurance is two documented facts: 1) Phillip PfafT was the first to describe a wax impression procedure and a method for making plaster casts; and 2) Jean Baptistc Gariot was the first to describe a method for mounting casts and preserving their relationship with a plaster index (“plaster articulator”). However, it must be recog- nized that because Gariot never claimed the proce- dure as an innovation, it may not have been original with him.22

Even though “plaster articulators” were the first methods to be used for preserving the relationships of casts, somctime before 1840, the mechanical hinge articulators emerged to become a new and widely used device for this purpose. The history of the origins of hinge articulator i s even more of a mystery than that of the plaster articulator (more of the history of articulators in the next issue of theJournal ofPosthodontics) .

References 1. Pfa8 P (ed): Abhandlung yon der Zahnen des menschlichen

Korpers nnd deren Krankeiten. Berlin, Haude und Spener, 1756,pp 148-153

2. Hoffmann-Axthelm W (ed): History of Dentistry, Chicago IL, Quintessence Publishing Co, 1991, p 231

3. Bremner MKD (ed): The Stoq of Dentistry (ed 3). BrooklP, NY, Dental Items oflnterest, 1958, p 221

4. GariotJB (ed): Traite des Maladies de la Bouche. Paris, De L‘Iniprimerie L)e Baudouin, 1805, pp 305-3 13

5. HouseJE: The Design and Use of Dental Articulators in the

Figure 2. The casts, which have been extended toward the back and that portion painted with a separating medium, are held in place with the wclusal record and placed in a mass of soft plaster. The plaster is allowed to set to become the indexing device.

United States From 1840-1970. Masters Thesis, Indana Uni- versity School of Dentistry, 1970, p 14

6. Kennedy E (ed): Partial Denture Construction (ed 1). Rrook- Iyn, NY, Dental Items of Interest, 1928, p 175

7. Richardson J (ed): Practical Treatise on Mechanical Dentistry, (ed I). Philadelphia, PA, Lindsay and Rlakiston, 1860, pp 239-275

8. Coles 0 (ed): A Manual of Dental Mechanics (ed 2). London, England, J and A Churchill, 1876, pp 87-99

9. Peeso FA (ed): Crown and Bridge-work for Students and Practioners (ed 2). Philadelphia, PA, Lea and Fehiger, 1924, pp 144-153

10. Essig NS (ed): Prosthetic Dentistry. Brooklyn, W, Dental Items ofInterest. 1937, pp 110-1 16

1 I. Prothro JJ3 (ed): Prosthetic Dentistry (ed 2). Chicago, IL, Medico-Dental Publishing Co, 1916, pp 1136-1 137

12. Wilson GH. Prosthesis, then and now. Dental Cosmos 1920;fZ: 6-13

13. Gillis RR: Articulator development and the importance of observing the condyle paths in full denture prosthesis. J Am Dent Assoc 1926:13:3-25

14. Hall RE: An analysis of the development of the articulator. J AmDent Asscc 1930;17:3-51

15. Turner CK, Anthony 1 9 (eds): American Textbook of Pros- thetic Dentistry (ed 5). Phladelphia, PA, Lea and Fehiger, 1928,p 172

16. Heartwell CM, Rahn A 0 (eds): Syllabus of Complete Den- tures (ed 4.), Philadelphia, PA, Lea and Febiger, 1986, p 55

17. Scandrett FR: Articulators in Complete Denture Cons- truction, in Sheldon Winkler (ed): Essentials of Complete Denture Prosthodontics (ed 1). Philadelphia, PA, Saunders,

18. Celenza Fv: Review of the literature: Articulators and deter- minants of occlusal morpholog)., in Brien R. Lang and Charles C. Kelsey (eds): International Prosthodontic M’orkshop on Cornplcte Denture Occlusion. Ann Arbor, MI, University of Michigan Press, 1973, p 90

19. Mitchell DL, Wilkie ND: Articulators through the years. Part 1. Up to 1940. J Prosthet Dent 1978;39:330-338

20. Becker CM, Kaiser DA Evolution of occlusion and occlusal instruments. J Prosthod 1993;2:33-43

21. Guerini V The historical development of the dental art. Dental Cosmos 1901 ;43: 1-1 0

22. Denton GB: The Gariot articulator myth. Dental Cosmos

1979, p 216-262

I933;75:693-695