I had one similar and took it apart out of boredom, I'm assuming it's the same kind of mechanism. The adjustment works by the tiny laser being mounted on top of a spring loaded plastic bar, when you turn the screw in it pushes down on one end of the bar which like a see-saw moves the laser position. When you loosen the screw the spring provides the necessary force to push the laser back in the other direction. Mine didn't do left and right, guessing it's another bar to push it one direction, and the spring tension push it back in the other direction when the screw is loosened.
You mention a spring being bent and the top being out of alignment, my guess is that it's all come loose/ out of position inside and the screw isn't making contact with the bar anymore. If the tops out of alignment then it's probably the springs/bars that have come out of position pushing it out from the inside.
If it's possible to take apart (some of these type of RDS are just glued together) then hopefully you can put the bits into the right position. A bent spring shouldn't be too terminal, but if one these bars or similar has snapped inside them might be fooked.
Can you post pics of this bent spring and the top bit?