Abstract: Teeth disposed on the bit face of a rotating bit are, angularly oriented on the sloping surface of the bit face such that a vertical loading force which is applied to each tooth vectorially sums with a wedging force exerted by the rock formation on each tooth to create a resultant force applied to the diamond cutting element included within the tooth. The angular orientation of the tooth is chosen such that the resultant force is applied to the diamond cutting element in a direction which minimizes shear stress on the element. For example, in the case where the diamond cutting element is an equilateral triangular prismatic element tangentially set on the bit face with one apical edge defined by two adjacent triangular sides outermost on the tooth, the orientation or inclination of the tooth with respect to the vertical loading force and wedge force is such that the resulting force lies near or on the bisector of the dihedral angle formed by the apical edge.