LightForce launches patient-specific metal AM brackets
LightForce Orthodontics, based in Wilmington, Massachusetts, USA, has launched its LightBracket Metal, an additively manufactured patient-specific metal bracket for use in the company’s Generative Braces range.
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According to LightForce, its Generative Braces are a new category of orthodontic care in which every appliance is generated from the individual treatment plan. Rather than relying on standardised appliances, each bracket is custom-generated and manufactured for a specific patient and tooth.
“For more than a century, orthodontics relied on a stock bracket for patients who were never stock. LightBracket Metal changes the order of things. We’re giving doctors the most exact instrument they’ve ever had for the work they were born to do,” stated Alfred Griffin, founder and CEO of LightForce Orthodontics.
LightBracket Metal is produced using a proprietary metal AM process. Each bracket is customised across multiple parameters, including base geometry, slot height, slot prescription, bracket position, tie wings and hooks. The bracket base is designed to conform to the morphology of the individual tooth.
The company states that a lower-profile design, combined with patient-specific tie-wing and hook features, is intended to improve comfort and reduce debond rates. Algorithmically generated indirect bonding trays are also used to support delegated clinical workflows.
“In my practice, I care deeply about providing individualised care for my patients. With LightBracket Metal, I am now able to provide that level of care with a patient-specific metal bracket system that is generated from my digital treatment plan,” stated Dr Jacquee Schieck at Schieck Orthodontics.
LightForce’s earlier ceramic bracket system is reported to have resulted in up to 60% fewer appointments and 43% shorter treatment times than conventional braces. With the introduction of LightBracket Metal, the company aims to extend these benefits to a wider segment of the $4.7 billion market that chooses metal.
James Lawton, LightForce Orthodontics President, added, “For decades, every patient got the same bracket. That ends now. We are accelerating toward a future where the very idea of a universal, one-size-fits-all bracket is unthinkable.”
