US 5,380,197 AGranted

Orthodontic arch wire sleeves for use with orthodontic arch wires and brackets

OwnerG. Herbert Hansoninventor

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

An arch wire is provided with one or more sleeves, each of which is a close fit on the wire and in turn fits closely into the bracket slot in which it is inserted. The wire/sleeve combination and the bracket cooperate to produce the desired rotation and tipping of the tooth while, if required, the sleeve/bracket combination can slide freely along the wire. This permits the use of very light moving forces and the use of a wire of uniform cross-section along its length while permitting changes of the wire cross-section for each and any bracket to provide the desired orthodontic action. Preferably the wire and sleeve cross-sections cooperate to hold the sleeve against rotation about a mesial-distal axis. The ends of the sleeve may be splayed to limit its endwise movement in the bracket slot. A sleeve may extend over more than one bracket. The sleeve may be a continuous tube, or it may be slit mesially-distally along its lingual face that is within the slot.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A combination comprising an orthodontic bracket comprising a bracket body having labial, lingual, gingival, occlusal, mesial and distal surfaces, the bracket body having a mesial distal extending arch wire sloe opening at the bracket labial surface and into which an operative portion of an arch wire can be inserted for cooperation between the bracket and the arch wire for orthodontic corrective movement of the bracket and a tooth to which it is attached;

an arch wire having such an operative portion inserted in the slot:
and
a ligature member mounted on the bracket body and engaging the arch wire to retain the operative portion thereof against labial movement out of the slot:
said combination further comprising a sleeve member having a passage therein through which the arch wire passes, the sleeve member being mounted on said operative portion of the arch wire, and being engaged in the slot while so mounted on the arch wire to connect the bracket and the arch wire for said cooperation between them, the ligature member engaging the sleeve member to thereby retain the respective operative portion of the arch wire against labial movement out of the slot.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.