US Patent 6988889 Custom-fitted orthodontic bracket manufactured by computerized and selective removal of portions of a bracket

Manufacture of custom brackets in which a three-dimensional representation of the teeth is used to remove portions or the base to custom-bit the tooth to a predetermined tooth surface, and/or to remove portions of the bracket to create an archwire slot in order to provide a custom orientation and position of the archwire slot in the bracket. The ideal tooth surface for bracket placement and/or the ideal archwire orientation at that bracket may be determined in a computerized fashion by forming a three-dimensional representation of a ideal corrected position of the teeth, and then determining where the bracket and archwire would need to be placed on each of the misaligned teeth in order to achieve the ideal correction.