Historia de los articuladores / La aparición e historia temprana del arco facial.

2000

DENTAL INSTRUMENTATION

The History of Articulators: The Appearance

and Early History of Facebows
Edgar N. Starcke, DDS

R ICHMOND S. HAYES patented the first artic-

ulator with descending condylar paths in 1889. In
that same year, Hayes introduced the first example of
a functional facebow-like device intended for locating
the position of the casts correctly in the articulator.
He named this device the “articulating caliper,” how-
ever, there is no evidence that it was ever patented
(Fig 1). Hayes recognized the necessity of mounting
“articulating caliper,” however, did not enable a
fixed transfer or three-dimensional orientation of
the casts to the articulator. Its only purpose was
to record the distance from the patient’s condyles
to a point along the midline of the maxillary
occlusion rim. With discs, C (Fig 1), placed on the
cheeks over the condyles and the point of rod D
pressed into the wax occlusion rim, this one
relationship was used to determine the position
of the casts in the articulator.
In 1894, George K. Bagby of Newburn, NC,
obtained a patent for “improvements to an articu-
lator of usual construction” (ie, a simple hinge
articulator), and the “jaw gage” (Fig 2), a device

Figure 1. The Hayes Articulating Caliper. This is the

typical published image of this device. It has been fre-
quently reprinted, with and without the letters and artic-
ulator. This illustration may have been from a patent
application; however, no patent was ever issued. (Re-
printed from Waugh, 1910, p 206.11)

condyle-oriented casts in the articulator by taking

measurements from the patient. This instrument was
the first on record to be used for that purpose.* The

Correspondence to: Edgar N. Starcke, DDS, Clinical Professor, De-
partment of Prosthodontics, The University of Texas Houston Health
Science Center Dental Branch, 6516 John Freeman Avenue, P.O. Box
20068, Houston, TX 77225. E-mail: estarcke@mail.db.uth.tmc.edu
Copyright © 2000 by The American College of Prosthodontists
1059-941X/00/0903-0008$5.00/0
doi:10.1053/jpro.2000.20395
*According to Prothero (1916), Thomas L. Gilmer was
the first to suggest the principle of a facebow in a paper
presented at a meeting of the Illinois State Dental Soci-
ety in 1882.10
Figure 2. The Bagby Jaw Gage. Bagby’s simple device
determined the distance from the midline of the anterior
occlusion rims to one of the condyles. (Reprinted from
the 1894 US patent.1)
similar in purpose to that of Hayes’ “articulating
caliper.” In the Bagby patent,1 the “jaw gage” is
described as an “attachment to determine the lo-
cation of the impression models (in) the articula-
tor” and one that “gives an exact measurement
desired of the lower jaw when the central incisors
are present.”

Journal of Prosthodontics, Vol 9, No 3 (September), 2000: pp 161-165 161

162

Figure 4. The Snow Facebow (on the Gritman Articula-

Figure 3. George B. Snow, 1835-1923. The son of a
physician/dentist, Dr Snow graduated with a DDS degree
in 1859 from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery.
He was one of the founders of the Dental Department of
the University of Buffalo (NY) and became Professor of
Mechanical Dentistry and was Dean from 1904-1913. In
addition to the facebow and several articulators, his other
inventions included a vulcanizer, and an automatic den-
tal mallet. (Reprinted from the J Am Dent Assoc 1923;
10:370.15)
tor). In the original patent, this device was referred to as
only an “attachment” for an articulator, “whereby the
proper location of the upper model in the articulator with
respect to the pivotal point between the two sections may
be defined.” The term, “facebow,” probably evolved from
a statement by A.D. Gritman, who described the “imple-
ment devised by Prof. Snow. . .as a bow of metal (that)
reaches around the face. . .”13 It first appeared in the
literature in a description for its use by Gritman and
Snow in the American Textbook of Prosthetic Dentistry
(ed 2), 1900.14 (Reprinted from Snow, p 643.9)
The Appearance of the Traditional
Facebow
It remained for George B. Snow of Buffalo, NY (Fig
3), in 1899, to make the vital breakthrough when he

Bagby identified “one of the cheeks at the con-

dyle” as the posterior reference point. He also men-
tioned that the “alveolar border at the symphasis”
or the midline of a wax occlusion rim could be used
as the anterior reference point when appropriate.
The Hayes “articulating caliper” and the Bagby
“jaw gage” were decidedly important contributions,
but neither of these devices met the essential require-
ments of a facebow.2 Parenthetically, both Hayes and
Bagby failed to attract the attention of the profession
to their inventions, although they apparently at-
tempted to do so.3 By 1895, Bagby’s “jaw gage” was
being advertised for sale by the S.S. White Dental Mfg
Co.4 Unfortunately, Hayes’ opportunity for future in-
vestigations and promotion of his instruments was cut Figure 5. This represents George B. Snow’s plane of
short because of his death in January 1890. occlusion, based on Broomell. (Reprinted from Snow, p 4.3)

Figure 6. The line from lower aspect of the tragus is
Gysi’s “prosthetic plane.” The middle line is Broomell’s
(aka, Camper’s) plane, and the solid line is Frankfort’s
plane. (Reprinted with permission.6)
introduced the first instrument and technique for
recording the anatomic relationship of the maxillae
to the condylar axis and transferring this relation-
ship to the articulator (Fig 4). To George B. Snow,
therefore, belongs the credit for the development of
Figure 7. This is a representation of Balkwill’s angle of (an
average) 26 degrees. It corresponds to a distance of 35 mm
between the occlusal plane and a plane at the level of the
condylar elements. (Reprinted with permission.6)
163
the modern traditional facebow. Snow’s new inno-
vations were: (1) the facebow fork for indexing the
anatomic position of the maxilla to the condyles,
and (2) the application of the “ala-tragus line” for
establishing the orientation of the occlusal plane.
Snow adopted the plane of orientation suggested by
I.N. Broomell (Fig 5). Broomell had originally de-
scribed it with reference to osseous structures (ie, the
center of the glenoid fossa to the anterior nasal spine).
Snow used the term, “ala-tragus line,” adapting it to
soft tissue structures for clinical application.5
Orientation of the Occlusal Plane
and the “Third Point of Reference”
Since Snow introduced his basic facebow in 1899, it
has remained the prototype for all other facebow
inventors who have followed. Over the years, inven-
tors have studied cranial and facial landmarks and
have developed various theories and methods to
determine the vertical position of the occlusal
plane. For example, Gysi’s “prosthetic plane” is
similar to Broomell’s (Fig 6), extending from the
lower margin of the tragus to the ala of the nose.
On Hanau’s model “H” series articulators, the level
of the occlusal plane is indicated by a groove in the
incisal pin.6 If the incisal contact point is placed at
the level of this groove, it will be about 35 mm
below the condylar elements. This position actually
corresponds with the average position of the occlu-
sal plane described by Balkwill in 1866 (Fig 7).6
The Wadsworth “T-attachment” added a new di-
mension to facebows by providing a “third point of
reference” indicator to determine the vertical position
of the occlusal plane. According to House,7 Frank
Wadsworth introduced this device and an articulator
in 1921. The anterior reference point was based on
Wadsworth’s “naso-optic-condylar” triangle (Fig 8A).†
†
Rudolph Hanau was invited to comment on a paper
presented by A.H. Paterson on the Wadsworth method in
1927.8 Hanau, who was never at a loss for words, ex-
pressed his opinion of the Wadsworth’s “T attachment”
as “. . .a device which will not do any harm to an articu-
lator and surely will not do any good to any denture
construction.” Hanau was clear in his belief, however,
that the skill of the dentist was the most important
aspect of successful patient treatment and not the instru-
ment or technique used (including his own).12
164
After a facebow and bite fork were firmly se-
cured on the face, the “T-attachment” was adjusted
so that the posterior end of the horizontal crossbar
would rest on a condylar rod. The anterior end of
the crossbar would then be adjusted to a point at
which it bisected an imaginary line from the lower
border of the ala of the nose to the pupil of the eye
(Fig 8B).
The level of the casts was determined by the
position of the vertical bar. The mandibular cast
Figure 8. (A) The lines illustrate Wadsworth’s
“naso-optic-condylar triangle” and the line that bi-
sected the anterior side of the triangle extending
from the outer canthus of the eye to the ala of the
nose. (B) The Wadsworth facebow adjusted with the
“T-attachment” in place. The “T-attachment” con-
sists of a horizontal crossbar and a standard (larger
vertical bar). (Facebow assembly is from the collec-
tion of the author.) (C) The Wadsworth articulator
with the Wadsworth facebow attached. (Articulator
and facebow are from the collection of the author.)
was mounted first, and the maxillary member of
the articulator was then fixed parallel to the hori-
zontal bar of the “T-attachment” to mount the
maxillary cast (Fig 8C).8
Another facebow attachment used as a third point
of reference is the infra-orbital pointer (Fig 9A and B). It
was probably invented in the late 1920s. Although
Hanau, Bergstrom, and the Dentatus Company
were among the first to adopt it, its true origin is
unknown.7

Figure 9. (A) Hanau CM Facebow with infraorbital pointer adjusted to a patient. (From the collection of the University
of Texas Houston Dental Branch.) (B) Hanau H2 articulator with the CM Facebow in place. The facebow pointer is
adjusted to the infraorbital indicator on the articulator. (From the collection of the University of Texas Houston Dental
Branch.)
Discovering the Solution to a Puzzle:
Snow, Walker, and Christensen
The Snow facebow was patented and introduced
with the Gritman articulator in 1899. The Gritman
was a “fixed condylar guide” instrument articulator
with descending condylar paths. By 1899, George
Snow was well aware of W. E. Walker’s work and
the importance that he gave to the concept of
adjustable condylar guides. Why, then, was the
Gritman articulator designed with fixed condylar
guides? In an article written in 1907, Snow ex-
plained that it was not difficult to construct an
articulator with the adjustable condyle feature in
1899. However, he noted that, at that time, there
was simply no practical clinical procedure to record
and transfer each patient’s condylar paths to the
articulator.9 Prof. Carl Christensen, of Copenha-
gen, would suggest an answer to that problem by
1901. Scholars were beginning to find the solution
to a puzzle. (More on the history of articulators in
the next issue of the Journal of Prosthodontics.)
References
1. Bagby GK: Dental Articulator. US Patent No. 522,188. July
3, 1894
2. The Glossary of Prosthodontic Terms (ed 7). J Prosthet Dent
1999;81:71
165
3. Snow GB (ed): The Articulation of Artificial Dentures (ed
2). Buffalo, NY, Snow Dental Co, 1917, p 4
4. White JW (ed): Taking Impressions of the Mouth (Mono-
graph and Catalogue) (ed 2). Philadelphia, PA, S. S. White
Dental Mfg Co, 1895, p 80
5. Broomell IN: Value of temperamental indications in
correct prosthesis of entire dentures. Dent Cosmos
1897;39:1-20
6. Brandrup-Wognsen T: The facebow, its significance and
application. J Prosthet Dent 1953;3:618-630
7. House JE: The design and use of dental articulators in the
United States from 1840-1970. Masters thesis, Indiana Uni-
versity School of Dentistry, Indianapolis, IN, 1970, pp
102-106
8. Paterson AH: The use of the facebow in full denture con-
struction. Dent Cosmos 1927;69:1229-1235
9. Snow GB: The present status of the articulator question.
Dentist’s Magazine 1907;2:635-647
10. Prothero JH (ed): Prosthetic Dentistry (ed 2). Chicago, IL,
Medico-Dental Publishing Co, 1916, p 1140
11. Waugh LM: The laws of antagonization of the teeth in
orthodontia. Dent Items of Interest 1910;32:192-213
12. Hanau RL: Comments. Proceedings of the Dental Society of
the State of New York (May 18-20, 1927). Dent Cosmos
1927;69:1296-1298
13. Gritman AD: Concerning articulators. Items of Interest
1899;21:802-806
14. Gritman AD, Snow GB: Recent improvements for the
proper articulation of teeth, in Essig CJ (ed): The American
Textbook of Prosthetic Dentistry (ed 2). Philadelphia, PA,
Lea Brothers and Co, 1900, pp 422-431
15. J Am Dent Assoc 1923;10:370