Patent ID: 8852245

Claim:
A method of securing a bone plate to bone, the bone plate defining a lower surface, an upper surface opposite the lower surface, and a hole that extends from the upper surface to the lower surface along a central hole axis, the method comprising the steps of: placing the bone plate adjacent to the bone such that the lower surface faces the bone; placing a bone screw adjacent the hole, the bone screw including a threaded head and a shaft that is elongate from the threaded head along a screw axis; inserting the shaft of the bone screw through the hole along a direction oblique to the central hole axis such that the screw axis and the central hole axis define a select angle, thereby driving the shaft into the bone; and rotating the bone screw about the screw axis when the screw axis and the central hole axis define the select angle, thereby causing the threaded head to mate with one or more projections of the bone plate that extend into the hole from an internal jacket surface of the bone plate, wherein the select angle is among a plurality of angles in which the shaft is insertable through the hole along a respective direction, such that rotation of the bone screw about the screw axis at each of the plurality of angles when the shaft is in the respective direction causes the threaded head to mate with the one or more projections.