Patent ID: 8070749

Claim:
An anterior cervical plating system comprising: a plurality of cervical plates, each plate being defined by longitudinal and latitudinal axes and bone facing and top surfaces, the boundaries of said surfaces being defined by a pair of lateral surfaces and proximal and distal surfaces, wherein the lateral surfaces face outward from the centerline of the longitudinal axis and are disposed between the distal and proximal surfaces, and wherein the distal and proximal surfaces are disposed at the ends of the plates and face outward from the centerline of the latitudinal axis, said plates further having at least a first vertebral anchoring means and each further having at least two interlocking portions; each of the interlocking portions having at least two armatures, said interlocking portions being designed to engage and interlock an interlocking portion on an adjacent cervical plate to provide a stabilizing interconnection therebetween, the stabilizing interconnection being capable of resisting movement of the cervical plates in at least one dimension; wherein both of the interlocked interlocking portions of each pair of interlocked plates engage one of either the distal or proximal outward facing surface of the adjacent interlocked plate, and wherein the at least two armatures of each of said interlocking portions engage at least a portion of both of the outward facing lateral surfaces of the adjacent interlocked plate to form the stabilizing interconnection; and wherein the stabilizing interconnection is fixed into place via at least one anchoring connector that is inserted through at least one cooperative channel formed between the interconnected cooperative interlocking portions, and where the operation of said at least one anchoring connector is independent of any of the vertebral anchoring means of the system.