Customized orthodontic bracket system

Abstract

A customized orthodontic bracket system is provided. The system can include a bracket having a customized bracket bonding pad for bonding the bracket to a tooth of a patient and a bracket slot adapted to receive a customized archwire. The customized archwire is adapted to be positioned in the bracket slot to form a precise bracket slot-archwire interface. The bracket slot and the archwire when positioned in the bracket slot can be positioned substantially adjacent the tooth surface to reduce induced vertical error in tooth positioning. The bracket slot can be configured to have a bracket slot width substantially matching a cross-section of the archwire to reduce torque rotation around an axis of the archwire when positioned therein to further enhance end-of-treatment tooth positioning and reduce overall treatment time.

1 . A custom orthodontic bracket system comprising:
 a customized bracket having a bracket bonding surface for bonding the bracket to a tooth of a patient and a precise bracket slot positioned to receive an archwire and positioned substantially adjacent the tooth surface to thereby reduce induced vertical error in tooth positioning, the bracket slot having a bracket slot width and a bracket slot height; and   an archwire to be positioned in the bracket slot to thereby form a bracket slot-archwire interface and having a first cross-section and a second cross-section substantially perpendicular to the first cross-section, the archwire sized according to at least one of the following criteria:   the first cross-section of the archwire substantially matches the bracket slot height and the second cross-section of the archwire substantially matches the bracket slot width, to reduce torque rotation around an axis of the archwire to thereby enhance end-of-treatment tooth positioning.