OPTION 1

Key Concept:

• Until the recent introduction of ceramic and titanium brackets, fixed appliances had been fabricated entirely from stainless steel for many years, and stainless steel remains the standard material for appliance components.

• There are now three contemporary ways to produce edgewise brackets and tubes: by metal-injection molding (MIM), casting, or 3-D printing (which is possible with metals as well as plastics).

• Most of the brackets and tubes for contemporary appliances still are produced by MIM, but an increasing percentage are cast. Better precision of bracket slot size is achieved by milling the slot of a cast bracket, which corrects errors introduced by shrinkage of the casting as it cools.

• The use of 3-D printing offers the possibility of significantly better bracket slot precision, and the first 3-D brackets printed in metal now are available for the newest lingual appliance system.

• It is likely that 3-D printing, probably using different alloys than stainless steel or composite plastics, will largely replace the older technology for bracket production.