Patent ID: 11931080
Assignee: nan
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 9:
10. A method for rotatably positioning a threaded plug in a bone anchor receiver, the method comprising:
providing the bone anchor receiver including a longitudinal axis, a base, an upper portion defining a channel, interior surfaces, exterior surfaces opposite the interior surfaces, and an interlocking and gripping helically wound thread form formed at least partially within the interior surfaces, the channel extending between a front surface and a back surface of the bone anchor receiver and communicating with a top surface defining a top of the bone anchor receiver, the exterior surfaces including a first variable-depth portion configured to be engaged by a tool, the first variable-depth portion including a first planar outwardly-facing surface and a first curvate outward facing surface, the first planar outwardly-facing surface lying within a first plane that is parallel with the longitudinal axis; and
providing the threaded plug, the threaded plug comprising a cylindrical body having a central axis and an external surface with a lower annular edge and a continuous interlocking helically wound thread form formed on at least a portion of the external surface, a lower end of the thread form extending down so as to be located at least adjacent to the lower annular edge, the thread form of the threaded plug having a leading surface and a trailing surface extending outwardly with respect to the central axis of the cylindrical body of the threaded plug, the thread form integrally formed with the external surface of the cylindrical body at a base thereof and having a first width at the base, the leading and trailing surfaces of the thread form defining a second width that is greater than the first width at a position that is spaced radially outward with respect to the base, the leading surface of the thread form includes downwardly facing gripping surface portions adjacent the second width, the trailing surface of the thread form includes upwardly facing gripping surface portions adjacent the second width;
positioning the threaded plug within the channel of the bone anchor receiver; and
rotatably engaging the downwardly facing gripping surface portions and upwardly facing gripping surface portions with corresponding gripping mating surfaces formed on the interlocking and gripping helically wound thread form of the bone anchor receiver,
wherein, when the bone anchor receiver is in a locked configuration with the threaded plug, the threaded plug does not extend over any part of the top surface defining the top of the bone anchor receiver.