Patent ID: 8678817

Claim:
An improved orthodontic appliance comprising a mounting base for attachment to a tooth surface, a bracket upstanding from said base, an archwire slot formed in said bracket for receiving an orthodontic archwire, said archwire having a top wall, a bottom wall, and opposed sidewalls, said archwire slot including spaced ends at a mesial and distal outer edge of the bracket and spaced occlusal and gingival sidewalls, at least one pair of tie wings extending upwardly from said mounting base, said slot including a lingual sidewall curving continuously convexly in the vertical and horizontal planes between said ends and between said archwire slot sidewalls forming an apex point of the lingual sidewall at the center of the bracket and archwire slot, the contact between said archwire and said lingual sidewall being a minimum amount of touching at said apex point on said lingual sidewall, said tie wings comprising surfaces curved convexly in the vertical and horizontal planes, said tie wings surfaces extending into said archwire slot to define opposing apexes in said occlusal and gingival sidewalls of the archwire slot, and wherein the only points of contact between said archwire bottom wall and sidewalls and said bracket are said apexes on the lingual, occlusal and gingival sidewalls of the archwire slot when said archwire is disposed in said slot.