a novel orthodontic bracket system comprised of orthodontic appliances , such as brackets or buccal tubes , with a vertical instead of conventional horizontal slot orientation . the occlusal - gingival slot orientation minimizes the risk of unintentional debonding of the bracket as a result of insertion and removal of the archwire . an archwire retention mechanism designed to guide , retain and / or seat the archwire . the archwire retention mechanism releases the archwire from the archwire slot whenever appropriate force is applied , or manipulation of physical properties of the material are altered by the operator .