PARTS OF

BRACKETS
 Parts of brackets

E
ach orthodontic bracket is individualized in its labiolingual thickness to

influence the labiolingual position of the tooth in the arch, has a bracket slot cut

at an angle in mesiodistal direction which determines the anatomical tip of the

tooth, and it has built-in torque at the base of the bracket which governs the labiolingual

inclination of the tooth crown and root. The bracket design ‘prescription’ is aimed to achieve

a unique anatomical and physiological position of the tooth in the dental arch in three

dimensions of space.

Modern contemporary bracket has following bracket parts:

• Bracket base-bonding surface

• Bracket slot

• Wings

• Power arm.

BRACKET BASE –

It is the part of the bracket on the side of the tooth. It can be weldable or bondable. Bracket

base of bondable brackets are made up of stainless-steel sheet which are contoured to the best

fit labial contour of each tooth. The bondable surface is modified to provide mechanical

retention at composite bracket interface.

It has either integral built-in undercuts or 60-gauge wire mesh welded on the base.
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 Parts of brackets

Among the brackets with mesh-type bases, the larger the mesh spacing, the greater was the

bond strength.

Fig 1

BRACKET SLOT –

Slot is part of the bracket in which the wire is engaged to express the built-in prescription of

the bracket. The slot of the bracket has seen much evolution with time. It started from occlusal

opening slot in Angle ribbon arch appliance to gingival opening slot in Begg appliance and

front opening slot in Angle edgewise system. In contemporary orthodontics edgewise slot is

universally accepted. Vertical slots are still used in some bracket series but usually as an

accessary slot.

Fig 2
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 Parts of brackets

When bracket slot was first introduced, they were simple openings in which a bended wire

incorporating all the necessary tooth movements was inserted. The brackets having such

passive slots were called standard brackets. With time 1st, 2nd and 3rd order bends were

incorporated in brackets to produce respective tooth movements.

The original brackets were of 0.050" width made in gold. The slot in the bracket was milled to

the size of 0.020" x 0.028" where 0.020" is the occlusogingival height (width of slot) of the

slot and 0.028" is the labiolingual depth. The bracket slot can house a round, a square or a

rectangular wire.

A maximum of 0.0215" x 0.0275” dimension rectangular wire or 0.022" round wire can be

housed in 0.022" x 0.028" bracket.

WINGS –

The body has wings which have smooth edges for comfort on lips, cheek, mucosa and a smooth

curve to hold the ligature wires or modules to hold the wire.

Fig 3
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 Parts of brackets

POWER ARM –

Power arms are added to the brackets on its gingival side to control root position during

translation of the teeth. The reason for making power arms on gingival side is to bring the force

application closer to the centre of resistance of the teeth. Andrew proposed that for effective

control of root position during translation, the mesiodistal length of bracket plus height of

power arm should be equal to distance from the slot point to tooth centre of resistance.

Fig 4

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