Orthodontic archwire bracket

摘要

The orthodontic archwire bracket comprises a base body (10) having a base element (11) to be fixed to a tooth and a bracket body (20) having a socket element (25) surrounded by a perimetric wall (32) including two opposed slot portions (21a, 21b) forming a slot (21) to receive an archwire. The base and bracket bodies (10, 20) are connected by a ball and socket joint coupling. The perimetric wall (32) has a slit (33) providing a gap. A control element (60) mounted on the bracket body (20) is changeable between locking and unlocking positions to expand or constrict the bracket body (20) by increasing or reducing the gap. The ball and socket joint coupling is locked by friction when the control element (50) is in the locking position and the ball and socket joint coupling is unlocked enabling relative movement in three coordinate axes when the control element (50) is in the unlocking position.

主权项

1. An orthodontic archwire bracket, comprising:
a base body having a base element configured to be fixed to a tooth and a bracket body having a main slot configured to receive an archwire, said base body and said bracket body being connected to one another by a ball and socket joint coupling comprising a ball element formed on the base body and a socket element formed in the bracket body; a retaining element connected to said bracket body to retain said archwire in said main slot; and a control element operable to lock or unlock said ball and socket joint coupling,wherein:
the bracket body has a perimetric wall surrounding said socket element, said main slot comprising two mutually aligned main slot portions formed in said perimetric wall at opposite sides of the socket element; the perimetric wall includes a slit providing a gap; said control element is mounted on the bracket body and changeable between a locking position and an unlocking position to expand or constrict the bracket body by increasing or reducing said gap provided by said slit, hereby the ball and socket joint coupling is locked by friction force between said ball element and the socket element when the control element is in said locking position and the ball and socket joint coupling is unlocked enabling relative rotational movement of the ball element and the socket element in three coordinate axes when the control element is in said unlocking position.