Orthodontic brackets with temporarily visible marking features

An orthodontic bracket comprising:

• a bracket base;
• at least one arch wire slot within said bracket base adapted to receive an arch wire therein;
• a ligation cover for ligating an arch wire in said arch wire slot that can be selectively moved relative to said bracket base between an open non-ligating position relative to said arch wire slot and a closed, ligating position relative to said arch wire slot;
• and
• a temporarily visible mark on a surface of said ligation cover and that is visible during placement of the orthodontic bracket onto a tooth but that does not remain visible during use of the orthodontic bracket in straightening teeth, wherein said temporarily visible mark comprises an alignment grid defining four quadrants and a marking within one of said quadrants, and wherein said marking within one of said quadrants comprises a character that is a letter or a number or a representation of a letter or number.

An orthodontic bracket comprising:

• a bracket base;
• at least one arch wire slot within said bracket base adapted to receive an arch wire therein;
• a ligation cover for ligating an arch wire in said arch wire slot that can be selectively moved relative to said bracket base between an open non-ligating position relative to said arch wire slot and a closed, ligating position relative to said arch wire slot;
• and
• a temporarily visible mark on a surface of said bracket base and that is visible during placement of the orthodontic bracket onto a tooth but that does not remain visible during use of the orthodontic bracket in straightening teeth, wherein said temporarily visible mark comprises an alignment grid defining four quadrants and a marking within one of said quadrants, and wherein said marking within one of said quadrants comprises a character that is a letter or a number or a representation of a letter or number.