Patent ID: 7959437

Claim:
An orthodontic appliance, comprising: a body having at least one archwire attaching portion for attaching an archwire thereto, wherein the at least one archwire attaching portion has at least a bottom and opposing sides; a base having a side for facing a surface of a tooth when the orthodontic appliance is affixed to the tooth via an adhesive, the side having a plurality of surfaces for facing the tooth, including an outer surface for contacting the tooth, and a plurality of recessed surfaces offset from the tooth when the appliance is affixed to the tooth; an embedded encoding of information in the side of the base wherein there are walls defining each symbol of the encoding, wherein substantially all of the walls span an extent between at least two of the recessed surfaces of the side base, and a total surface area of the side of the base, including an area of the walls, for bonding of the appliance to the tooth with the adhesive is greater than what the total surface area would be without the encoding of information in the side of the base; wherein the area of the walls is at least 29% of the total surface area of the side of the base for contacting the adhesive and affixing the base to the tooth; and a discontinuous perimeter rail attached substantially entirely as a perimeter of the side of the base and projecting away from the body, wherein the discontinuous perimeter rail includes the outer surface, so that when the discontinuous perimeter rail contacts the tooth for attaching the orthodontic appliance thereto, substantially all of the total surface area of the side of the base within the discontinuous perimeter rail is offset from the tooth so that a thickness of the adhesive between substantially an entirety of the total surface area of the side of the base within the discontinuous perimeter rail and the tooth can be controlled by excessive adhesive escaping from substantially all of the total surface area of the side of the base within the discontinuous perimeter rail via discontinuities in the discontinuous perimeter rail.