Raymond Begg

Percival Raymond Begg AO (10 October 1898 – 18 January 1983) was a professor at the University of Adelaide School of Dentistry and a well known orthodontist, famous for developing the "Begg technique". Permanent displays dedicated to the Begg technique can be found in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, the Library of the American Dental Association in Chicago, and the PR Begg Museum at the University of Adelaide.

Begg decided to enroll in Angle School of Orthodontia in Pasadena, California in 1924. During his stay in California, Edward Angle was developing his Edgewise Appliance after working on the Ribbon arch appliance. Begg and Fred Ishii of Japan were the first to treat patients with the edgewise appliance at Angle School of Orthodontia.

In 1925, Begg sailed back to Australia to work with orthodontics on his own patients in Adelaide, South Australia. He also took up a position as a professor at the University of Adelaide. He eventually retired from this position in 1964.

Begg initially experimented with Edward Angle's non-extraction therapy but without much success. He observed a lot of relapse and treatment results with which he and his patients were not happy. In 1928, he decided to start removing teeth and starting seeing better dental aesthetics in his patients.

When he came back from the US, Begg was using a rectangular wire like Angle. However, he made a switch to the round archwire in 1928 and started using that with his brackets. In 1933, he usedribbon arch brackets and round arch wires with lighter forces in an orthodontic treatment. He is known to have developed the "Australian orthodontic wires" in the 1940s when he worked with a metallurgist named Arthur J. Wilcock.

Harold Kesling and George Dishham, American orthodontists, introduced the Begg technique to many orthodontists in the United States in the late 1950s and 1960s. In 1959, Dr. Kesling and Dr. Rocke invited over 150 orthodontists to assess the results of over 100 cases which were treated by Kesling and others with the Begg technique. Kesling is known for popularizing the technique in the United States.

Death Dr. Begg retired in 1980. On 18 January 1983 he died at Glen Osmond and was cremated.

Awards and recognitions Became Officer of the Order of Australia in 1981 First Australian to be inducted into the Hall of Fame at the Paris-based Pierre Fauchard Academy Founding member of the Australian Society of Orthodontists in 1927 Albert H. Ketcham Memorial Award Recipient by AAO in 1977 Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Dental Surgeons

There is a plaque in his honour on the Jubilee 150 Walkway, at the Adelaide Dental Hospital.