Recent Patents on Active Self-Ligating Brackets for Orthodontic Treatment

Background: The self-ligating bracket is widely applied in clinical orthodontics treatment. The self-ligating bracket includes passive self-ligating bracket, active self-ligating bracket and interactive selfligating bracket. The active self-ligating bracket fixes the archwire into the archwire slot through the spring piece or the lock tongue. As the active self-ligating bracket can save the operating time and shorten the treatment time, it will be the inevitable trend in the future clinical orthodontic treatment. Objective: To provide an overview of recent active self-ligating brackets, introduce their respective structural characteristics, and foresee the future development of active self-ligating brackets. Method: This paper reviews various representative patents about active self-ligating brackets. The structural characteristics and applications of the typical active self-ligating brackets are described and analyzed. Results: The structural characteristics of different types of active self-ligating brackets are summarized and compared. The current problems and the future development trend of the patents on active selfligating brackets are foreseen. Conclusion: Active self-ligating brackets have important practical significance, and play an important role in improving the orthodontic treatment effect. Moreover further improvements are needed in the structure and reliability of the active self-ligating bracket. More patents on the active self-ligating bracket should be invented according to the different application requirements.