Attachment of an orthodontic appliance by direct bonding to a tooth utilizing a composite base with a porous tooth-abutting face and various methods for making the device, such as casting as a unitary structure, or forming the composite base by rolling a mesh, in strip form, so as to form flats on at least one surface of the mesh where the mesh is to be in contact with a solid base portion, then bonding the mesh to the base. In the latter embodiment, the metal base is a metal foil to which the appliance is attached and the mesh and foil form a composite strip, from which individual composite pads are formed.