"Orthodontistry" and dental occlusion in Etruscans

Specimens dating back to the VIII Century B.C. indicate Etruscans may have been the first people to employ orthodontic bands to improve tooth alignment. A survey of dental occlusion in Etruscan cranial remains, however, shows very good typical occlusion and almost no crowding. Thus, these people do not represent the earliest development of epidemiologically high prevalence of malocclusion, a feature instead reserved for the later industrial world.