Orthodontic bracket
OwnerWolfgang Heiserinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A bracket for orthodontic treatments comprises a closing spring, which is fixedly anchored at the bracket and which covers an arch wire slot formed in the bracket for receiving an arch wire in a closing position. In an end section of the closing spring covering the slot, a tongue is formed in the center and folded at a right angle towards a base plate of said bracket. The spring has an end section which is held by projections formed at the bracket structure to secure the spring in its closing position. The spring may be dimensioned and pre-loaded in a manner that an arch wire inserted into the slot is loaded by the closing spring with forces from the top and from the side.
Claims12
A bracket for an orthodontic treatment, the bracket comprising:
- a base plate having a top side, and a bottom side adapted to be attached to a tooth, a structure, which rises from said top side and has two wings arranged at a mutual distance to each other forming a gap, each wing being interrupted by an elongate arch wire slot flushly extending through both wings, said arch wire slot dividing said wings each into a gingival and an incisal section and being adapted to receive an arch wire, and
- a closing spring made of a band-like material and anchored at the structure and comprising an arc extending over the gingival wing sections and having a free leg adjoining said arc, said closing spring being movable between an open position, in which the arch wire slot extending between the wing sections is freely accessible and a closing position in which the free leg covers the arch wire slot,
- wherein the gingival wing sections of the structure covered by the arc of the closing spring each have a projection at sides facing each other,
- the projections have free ends that face each other within said gap at a predetermined distance,
- the free leg of the closing spring has a tongue in the central portion, said tongue being angled substantially at a right angle in the direction towards the top side of the base plate,
- the tongue has a width at least at a free end section that is smaller than the distance of opposing surfaces which limit the gap between the gingival wing sections, and which is larger than the distance between the projections, whereas a remainder of said tongue is not wider that the free end section of said tongue, said free end section being retained by said projections in the closed position of said closing spring.
The bracket as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein an opening is formed in the free leg of the closing spring adjacent to the tongue.
The bracket as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the projections each have a top side which is inclined starting from an apex edge and extending in a direction away from the arch wire slot.
The bracket as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein a slight distance exists between the projections and the arch wire slot, said distance being at least as large as the material thickness of the closing spring.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.