Patent ID: 7635370

Claim:
A bone preparation apparatus, comprising: a support member having a track therein, said track having a length and a width, the width being transverse to the length, opposed side walls along at least a portion of the length of said track, an opening between said side walls and across the width of said track, and a maximum dimension across said opening and between said side walls, at least a portion of said track being non-linear to provide a pathway being at least in part non-linear; a bone removal device having a longitudinal axis extending between a proximal portion and a distal portion, said distal portion including a cutting element for cutting bone, said cutting element having a maximum cross-sectional dimension transverse to the longitudinal axis of the bone removal device; and a guide member movably engaged between said support member and said cutting element, said guide member being positionable within said track and in slideable relationship to said track, said guide member having a mid-longitudinal axis and a dimension transverse to said mid-longitudinal axis greater than the maximum dimension across said opening and between said side walls along said non-linear portion of said track, said guide member when positioned within said track contacting both of said opposed side walls along said maximum dimension of said track, said guide member having a passage therethrough having a dimension transverse to the mid-longitudinal axis greater than the maximum cross-sectional dimension of said cutting element to permit said cutting element of said bone removal device to be inserted into said passage and to access the bone to be cut through said passage, said guide member being adapted to movably guide said cutting element within at least said non-linear portion of said track to control movement of said cutting element along at least said non-linear portion of said track to form a selected shape in bone, the shape being at least in part non-linear.