Patent ID: 6957957

Claim:
An orthodontic appliance for a molar tooth comprising: a base for connecting the appliance to a molar tooth; a body extending from the base, the body having a mesial side portion and a distal side portion; a mesial archwire guide connected to the mesial side portion of the body; a distal archwire guide connected to the distal side portion of the body; an archwire slot extending across the mesial archwire guide and the distal archwire guide in generally mesial-distal direction; and a latch for releasably retaining an archwire in the archwire slot, the latch being movable from a slot-open position for admitting the archwire in the archwire slot to a slot-closed position for retaining the archwire in the archwire slot, wherein the latch comprises a mesial clip located mesially of the mesial archwire guide and a distal clip located distally of the distal archwire guide, wherein the appliance lacks tiewings, wherein the distal archwire guide is spaced from the mesial archwire guide to present a channel that extends in a general occlusal-gingival direction, wherein the mesial clip is smaller in overall dimensions than the distal clip in directions along a buccolabial-lingual reference axis, and wherein the mesial archwire guide is smaller in overall dimensions than the distal archwire guide in directions along buccolabial-lingual reference axis.