Craven Kurz was an American orthodontist who is known to be the inventor of the "invisible" or

lingual braces Lingual braces are one of the many types of the fixed orthodontic treatment appliances available to patients needing orthodontics. They involve attaching the orthodontic brackets on the inner (lingual vs. buccal) sides of the teeth. The main advan ...

in 1975. He was also the founding president of the American Lingual Orthodontic Association.

Life

Kurz was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. He attended

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

for college and obtained his dental degree from

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

in 1968. He then attended the orthodontic program at

Columbia University College of Dental Medicine The Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, often abbreviated CDM, is one of the 21 graduate and professional schools of Columbia University. It is located at 630 West 168th Street in Manhattan, New York City. According to American Den ...

in New York. After that, he established his private practice in

Westwood, Los Angeles, California Westwood is a commercial and residential neighborhood in the northern central portion of the Westside (Los Angeles County), Westside region of the city of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCL ...

, and practiced there for five years while teaching orthodontics at

UCLA School of Dentistry The UCLA School of Dentistry is the dental school of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) located in the Center for Health Sciences building in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. The school has seve ...

. Working with celebrities and TV personalities, Kurz was faced with dilemma of his patients wanting orthodontic care but without showing that they have braces. Therefore, Kurz invented lingual braces for his patients. He also published a textbook called ''Contemporary Lingual Orthodontics''. Kurz was the founding president of the American Lingual Orthodontic Association. He died on April 6, 1998, in Marina del Rey.

Lingual braces

First generation of lingual brackets were launched in 1976. These brackets had a larger profile at first. Orthodontic company Ormco manufactured the first Kurz Lingual Appliance. The slot size for the first bracket was 0.018 inches.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurz, Craven Columbia University College of Dental Medicine alumni UCLA School of Dentistry faculty University of Saskatchewan alumni McGill University alumni People from Moose Jaw American dentistry academics 1998 deaths Year of birth missing