Patent ID: 7611527

Claim:
A spinal plating system comprising; an elongated plate having a plurality of bone screw apertures; a locking ring disposed in one of the bone screw apertures, the locking ring having at least a portion resiliently expandable from a retracted state to an expanded state; a bone screw inserted into the one of the bone screw apertures, the bone screw having a head with a diameter sized such that in the retracted state the locking ring prevents the bone screw from backing out of the plate and in the expanded state the locking ring permits insertion and removal of the bone screw relative to the one bone screw aperture; and a tool for removing the bone screw from the one bone screw aperture, the tool having a first portion coupled to the head of the bone screw and a second portion resiliently expanding the locking ring to the expanded state.