Patent ID: 7077844

Claim:
A skeletal plating system for aligning and maintaining bone portions of the same bone or of different bones in a selected spatial relationship for healing or fusion of the bone portions, comprising a plate having a length sufficient to span at least two bone portions, said plate having an upper surface and a lower surface for placement against the bone portions, said plate having a thickness as measured from said upper surface to said lower surface, said plate having a plurality of bone screw receiving holes extending through said plate from said upper to lower surface, at least a first of said plurality of bone screw receiving holes associated with a first of the bone portions and at least a second of the said plurality of bone screw receiving holes associated with a second of the bone portions, said plate having at least one malleable segmentation zone in which said plate may be separated by bending at the time of use by a surgeon into at least first and second segments, said segmentation zone including a reduction of said thickness of said plate along which said plate can be separated into said first and second segments, each of said first and second segments having edges suitable for surgical implantation formed when separated at said segmentation zone, said first segment comprising at least said first and said second of said plurality of bone screw receiving holes and said a single locking element associated with a single bone screw receiving hole for second segment comprising at least two of said plurality of bone screw receiving holes.