Patent ID: 8062370

Claim:
An intervertebral prosthesis, comprising a first cover plate configured to be connected to a first vertebral body, a second cover plate configured to be connected to a second vertebral body, a prosthesis core which forms an articulation with the second cover plate and is held by a seat of the first cover plate, which seat is designed as a guide device into which the core can be moved from a ventral side relative to the first cover plate, and a limit-stop plate having a tongue portion extending perpendicularly from a wing portion, the limit-stop plate having a height such that the limit-stop plate does not interfere with relative motion between the prosthesis core and the second cover plate, and wherein the first cover plate has, on a ventral edge, a slide guide with respect to which the limit-stop plate is displaceable between a locking position and a nonlocking position, and wherein the slide guide for the limit-stop plate is formed by a slide-guide surface extending transverse to an anterior-posterior direction on the ventral edge of the first cover plate and by a pivot pin projecting from the slide-guide surface and on which the limit-stop plate is pivotably mounted, and wherein, in the locking position, the limit-stop plate is positioned such that the tongue portion protrudes above a bottom surface of the first cover plate and the wing portion engages with a screw head located in a screw hole provided on the first cover plate, and in the nonlocking position, the limit-stop plate is positioned such that both the tongue portion and the wing portion are lowered below the bottom surface of the first cover plate and the wing portion does not interfere with placement of a screw in the screw hole provided on the first cover plate.