Abstract: A fastener with a recessed drive socket and a driving tool with a cooperable driving head. The socket having a cylindrical interior wall interrupted by a plurality of driving corners. The driver having a tapered driving head including a plurality of sharpened driving edges adapted to engage the driving corners. The tapered driving end may be axially forced into the driving socket such that the plurality of driving edges frictionally engage the driving corners to hold the fastener on the driver and to enhance torque transmission. The cylindrical walls of the socket and the walls of the driver bit between the driving edges cooperate to define a fluid channel for passage of fluid around the driving head during positioning within the socket.

Abstract: A biocompatible cranioplasty plate structure, and method of its installation, for use in the surgical repair and recontour of large cranial defects of the human skull created or caused by injury, surgical intervention for tumor removal, or congenital anomaly or disease. The plate structure is formed from a sheet of pliable perforated metallic material, particularly commercially pure titanium or titanium alloy material, and is of generally elliptical configuration with a central preformed arcuate and convex area matching the compound and complex curvature of the forehead, side or rear areas of the typical human adult skull. The plate structure includes adjustable peripheral panels for bending fitment and close adaptation of the plate structure to intact cranial bone of the skull adjacent to and surrounding the defect and for attachment of the plate structure to intact bone by bone screws having low profile heads and applicable through perforations of the peripheral panels.

Abstract: Prosthetic apparatus for promoting and supporting guided bone tissue regeneration in at least missing or excised portions of the human mandible or maxilla and in bony defects of the mandible and maxilla. The apparatus includes a bone attachment tray formed of tissue-biocompatible titanium sheet material having perforations therethrough for receiving bone screws to affix the tray to stump portions and ridge sections of the mandible or maxilla proximate the missing or excised stump portions or ridge sections and one or more tissue-biocompatible metallic dental tooth root replacement implants which are releasably affixed at one end to the inner surface of the tray and which depend from the tray into the missing or excised portions or bone defects of the mandible or maxilla for incorporation and support in bone tissue regenerated within the tray.

Abstract: Mandibular prosthesis apparatus for mounting on the remaining stump portion of the ascending ramus, at the posterior end of a human mandible, from which has been removed by surgical intervention a diseased or fractured condylar process portion of the ramus as part of the temporomandibular (TM) joint complex of the mandible. The prosthesis apparatus consists of: a synthetic condylar replacement member which is formed of non-toxic, biocompatible Delrin acetal resin and includes an upper knob-shaped condyle portion and a lower cylindrical condyle-supporting stem portion; and a ramus attachment fixture which includes a cylindrical sleeve portion for receiving the cylindrical condyle-supporting stem portion of the condylar replacement member and a mounting panel for attaching the fixture to the stump portion of the ramus. The ramus attachment fixture is formed of tissue-biocompatible, perforated titanium sheet material.

Abstract: A composite surgical implant structure for use orthognathic and reconstructive surgery, for the correction cranial defects, and for reconstructive preprosthetic oral maxillofacial surgery, the implant structure is comprised of at least one layer of perforated, biocompatible metallic sheet material (preferably pure pliable titanium) and at least one layer of biologically and chemically inert microporous membrane material in intimate contact with, and supported by, the layer of perforated metallic sheet material.

Abstract: A pliable metallic mesh implant plate structure for the internal fixation of bone fractures and for use in orthognathic and reconstructive surgery. The plate structure includes a multiplicity of substantially square perforations extending from the outer face side of the plate structure to the bone interface side thereof and arranged uniformly in parallel rows and parallel lines. Each perforation includes an arcuate chamfer of substantially uniform configuration extending inwardly from the outer face side of the plate structure to the bone interface side about the entire periphery thereof.

Abstract: A biocompatible and pliable metallic surgical implant plate for use in the repair and rigid fixation of internal fractures of the floor and walls of the orbit. The implant plate includes an elongated base portion which is compliant for shaping to interface with the rim structure of the orbit. Three perforated leaf portions, spaced from one-another, project rearwardly from the elongated base portion. The central leaf portion is compliant for shaping to conform to the configuration of the orbit floor, one of the outboard leaf portions is compliant for shaping to conform to the medial wall of the orbit and the other outboard leaf portion is compliant for shaping to conform to the lateral wall of the orbit.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a bone fracture reduction device for the internal fixation and immobilization of bone fragments. The device is comprised of a thin malleable bone affixation plate, formed of a biocompatible metallic material with at least two spaced openings extending therethrough each for receiving a bone screw, with a thin bone plate identification tag formed as an integral extension of the bone affixation plate. The identification tag bears at least the name of the plate manufacturer, the manufacturer's product number, and the manufacture's production lot number for the bone affixation plate to provide full traceability of the device, and the identification tag provides the surgeon using the bone plate with means for handling and manipulating the plate during its affixation to bone fragments at a fracture site and after plate affixation the tag is severable from the plate for archiving.

Abstract: A bone fracture reduction device for the internal fixation and immobilization of bone fragments. The device is comprised of at least two spaced bone affixation plate sections formed of bio-compatible metallic material and at least one leg section of like bio-compatible metallic material interconnecting each pair of the plate sections. Each plate section has at least one screw hole extending therethrough for receiving a bone screw to be driven into a bone fragment and each leg section is of relatively narrow width with respect to the width of the plate sections. The device is affixed via its plate sections to adjacent bone fragments with each leg section spanning a fracture line.