Patent ID: 7125425

Claim:
An implant for the spinal column, comprising: an elongated body positionable in a spinal disc space, said body comprising a convexly curved upper surface orientable toward an endplate of an upper vertebra and a convexly curved lower surface orientable toward an endplate of a lower vertebra: a leading end portion and an opposite trailing end portion; a pair of sidewalls extending between said leading end portion and said trailing end portion; a cavity between said leading end portion, said trailing end portion, and said sidewalls, said cavity opening at said upper surface and said lower surface of said body; wherein said body includes a height between said upper and lower surfaces corresponding to a desired disc space height between the upper vertebra endplate and the lower vertebra endplate, wherein said leading end portion is structured for insertion into the disc space in a collapsed condition and said height is sized to restore the collapsed disc space to the desired disc space height as the body is inserted in the collapsed disc space, and further wherein: said upper and lower surfaces each include a number of engagement members therealong and projecting outwardly therefrom to engage bony tissue of the adjacent vertebral endplate when said body is positioned in the spinal disc space; said engagement members comprise a number of teeth along portions of said sidewalls extending along said cavity; and said teeth each include a leading end wall sloped toward said leading end portion and a trailing end wall opposite said leading wall, said trailing end wall being generally orthogonally oriented relative to the respective one of said convexly curved upper and lower surfaces from which said trailing end wall extends.