The Historv of Articulators: A Perspective on

the Early Yhars, Part I

Edgar N. Starcke, DDS

H OW A W C H do wc really know about the

origins of articulators? Before the 184~0s,a time
that coincided with the development of dentistry as a
articulator” (see sidebar*). It was a simple plaster
indexing procedure, which came to be known as the
“oiled board” articulator (Fig 1): “Plaster articula-
profession in the United States, Europe was our tors” were popular well into the 20th century, and
principal source of dental knowledge and practices. through the years, many designs have been reported
Investigating the infancy of American dentistry is in thc literaturc. An early variation on the Gariot
itself a challengc. Anecdotal information, inadequate dcsign was called the “slab” articulator (Fig 2).G
historical records, and little carly scientific research Authors who described and used “plaster articula-
have obscured much of what we know. It is not tors” were Richardson, 1860,7Coles, 1876; Peezo,
surprising that there are very few references to 1916: and Essig, 1937.”’ It is also noteworthy that
articulators in the early literature; however, since three U.S. patents for “plaster articulators” were
1900, the distinction of “inventing the articulator” granted betwccn 1857 and 1888:
has been given to two prominent European dentists A. A. Blandy of Baltimore, A I D . Patent #16,708,
of the 18th and 19th centuries, Phillip Pfaff and Jean March, 1857
Baptistc Gariot. G. F. Schaffer of New York, XY. Patent #99,698,
In 1756, Phillip Pfaff, dcntist to thc court of February, 1870
Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, first described J. L. P. Lcmaii of Middlescx, England. Patent
his method of making plaster casts. He described a #386,711, July, 1888
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-
tore3Even 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

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 77225E-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
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.
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.LlThese 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 S t o q 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
 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. RichardsonJ (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 110-116
1 I. Prothro JJ3 (ed): Prosthetic Dentistry (ed 2). Chicago, IL,
Medico-Dental PublishingCo, 1916, pp 1136-1137
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,
1979, p 216-262
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;43:1-10
22. Denton GB: The Gariot articulator myth. Dental Cosmos
I933;75:693-695