Patent ID: 7235078

Claim:
A kit for use in securing a tissue graft to a bone, comprising: one or more interference screws designed to hold a tissue graft within a bone tunnel, at least one of the one or more interference screws comprising: a threaded body extending along a central axis and including raised threads for threadable insertion into a bone tunnel, the threaded body including an obliquely angled face disposed at a proximal end of the threaded body so that the raised threads at the proximal end of the threaded body are discontinuous, and one or more protective devices for temporarily mating with at least one of the one or more interference screws during insertion of the interference screw into a bone tunnel and that are configured so as to be detachable from the interference screw after securing a tissue graft to a bone in order to not permanently remain in the bone tunnel along with the interference screw, each protective device comprising: a body having an angled face that corresponds to and is configured to abut the angled face of at least one of the one or more interference screws when the protective device is concentrically aligned with the interference screw about the central axis in order to reduce or eliminate the tendency of the discontinuous raised threads at the proximal end of the threaded body to snag a tissue graft and/or sutures when the interference screw is screwed into a bone tunnel, at least one of the protective devices further comprising a threaded portion having discontinuous raised threads adjacent to the angled face that are configured to align with corresponding discontinuous raised threads disposed on at least one of the one or more interference screws when the protective device is concentrically aligned with the interference screw and the face of the protective device abuts the face of the interference screw, the discontinuous raised threads of the at least one protective device thereby completing the discontinuous raised threads of the at least one interference screw.