Patent ID: 8728131

Claim:
A bone plate, comprising: a body having a longitudinal axis, a first surface and a bone-contacting surface opposed to the first surface, and four lateral sides; a plurality of spikes extending from the bone-contacting surface, each spike having a truncated, pyramidal configuration terminating in a tip line, wherein each spike has four lateral faces or sides that converge to the tip line, and wherein two of the plurality of spikes are positioned on the longitudinal axis and remaining spikes are located opposite each other and in symmetry relative to the longitudinal axis; and two openings extending from the first surface through the body and to the bone-contacting surface, the openings being located on the longitudinal axis of the body, and wherein the plurality of spikes allow easy penetration of bone by pressing the plate with a hand before fixation devices are secured to the bone plate, and wherein two opposed lateral sides of the bone plate have a uniform, gradual width between the first surface and the bone-contacting surface, a first width on one side of the four lateral sides being greater than a second width on a side opposite to the one side of the four lateral sides, the first width gradually decreasing to the second width to confer an overall wedged profile to the bone plate.