Objectives: The knowledge of the history of occlusal appliances and their treatment ideas help benchmark therapy concepts of today and in the future.

Material and methods: The history of occlusal appliances was systematically reviewed. We analyzed 25 electronic data bases and additionally bibliographic catalogs by hand. Entirely 176 papers were included.

Results: First appliances, made of wood or alloys, were only used to fix bone fractures. Later, appliances made of caoutchouc were added covering the entire dental arch. It was not until 1901 that occlusal appliances were systematically inserted to treat parafunctions. At that time, occlusal dysbalances were considered to be responsible for tooth lost (Alveolar pyorrhea) and furthermore, in the years 1920 to 1930, for dysfunctions of the tube, for vertigo and bad hearing (Costen syndrome). After the Second World War the dentists included the phenomena of stress in their treatment concepts and they considered more and more internal derangement of the temporomandibular joint as topic, which had to be treated by splints. The material of the appliances changed from natural rubber to acrylic resin materials, which offered the possibility to construct appliances in manifold ways.

Conclusions: Beside appliances like the Michigan splint, that covered all teeth of the dental arc, concepts with reduced occlusal contact in anterior area (e.g.: jig-splints) or, posterior area (e.g.: pivot splints) were developed. Clinical relevance: Meanwhile a wide range of concepts and types of appliances were propagated, however, a final evidence based concept is still lacking.