Patent ID: 7909859

Claim:
A bone plate device for being secured to vertebrae, the bone plate device comprising: a plate member having a central longitudinal axis; a plurality of throughbores of the plate member that are arranged in two longitudinally aligned columns offset from the plate central axis for receiving bone anchors to secure the plate member to the vertebrae with the throughbores and bone anchors of each column defining an associated load path along the plate member, the plurality of throughbores including a pair of laterally aligned throughbores located along different load paths of the plate member; a central area of the plate member spaced from and between the load paths; a pair of retainers arranged and configured in the pair of laterally aligned throughbores to limit back-out of the bone anchors therefrom, each retainer having a pair of free ends extending into the central area; and retention structure for holding the free ends of the retainers to the plate member at the central area spaced apart from the load paths so that both of the retainers each have both of the free ends thereof held in the central area.