Patent ID: 8479393

Claim:
A method of manufacturing an orthodontic appliance for securing an archwire to a tooth, comprising: providing a first green metal body including a plurality of metal particles and a binder, the first green metal body approximating the shape of a first orthodontic appliance; guiding a laser beam over a surface portion of the first green metal body to vaporize, melt, and/or decompose the binder at the point being hit by the laser beam; removing metal particles from the surface portion of the first green metal body where the binder has been vaporized, melted, and/or decomposed to yield a first laser-cut portion having a topology formed by the remaining metal particles of the first green metal body that are exposed after guiding the laser beam over the surface portion to vaporize, melt, and/or decompose the binder and removing metal particles from the surface portion, the topology including at least one of protrusions, recesses, or undercuts and being related to a first preselected tooth to which the first orthodontic appliance is to be bonded, the surface portion forming a bonding surface of the first orthodontic appliance; removing additional binder from the first green metal body separately from guiding of the laser beam over the surface portion to vaporize, melt, and/or decompose the binder; and following removing additional binder, sintering the metal particles to form a sintered body including a sintered first laser-cut portion having a sintered topology including at least one of sintered protrusions, sintered recesses, or sintered undercuts corresponding to the at least one of protrusions, recesses, or undercuts, the sintered first laser-cut portion forming a bonding surface of the first orthodontic appliance.