Introduction: Bond failures during orthodontic treatment is common. To increase the bond strength many improvements have been made over the years. Bracket retention mechanism, is one of the factors which determine the bond strength of the adhesive. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different bracket base retention features on shear bond strength . Materials and methods: Brackets with four different base features were tested: polymer coated base {Nu Edge (TP Orthodontics)}, Foil mesh pad { Mini Diagonali (Leone)}, Photochemically etched base {Minimaster (American Orthodontics)}, Laser structured base {Discovery (Dentaurum)}. An optical and a scanning electron microscope was used to examine the base design. Brackets were bonded to human teeth and then debonded on the Universal testing machine. Results: The results show that the Group A2 showed the highest mean tensile bond strength of all the groups. The lowest individual TBS of a bracket was 4.8MPa which belonged to group B2. The average mean tensile bond strength of different groups was in the following order: A2>D2>C2>B2. Conclusions: Polymer coated base brackets showed the highest and foil mesh pad brackets showed the lowest tensile bond strength. Key words: tensile bond strength, bracket base design, laser structured base, polymer coated base, bonding.