Patent ID: 8512385

Claim:
A bone plate, comprising: a) an elongated plate having a bone contacting bottom surface, a top surface, and a plate thickness between the bottom and top surfaces; b) a plurality of screw apertures extending through the plate thickness and into which bone screws are insertable; c) at least two of the screw apertures being aligned adjacent to each other along a main axis to thereby provide a complex aperture, i) wherein each of the at least two adjacent screw apertures of the complex aperture has a threaded head seat that provides at least a partially threaded portion, and ii) wherein a center-to-center distance between the at least two adjacent screw apertures of the complex aperture is greater than a sum of the largest radii of each of them; and d) a bend relief zone provided as an open area extending to and meeting the upper plate surface and the lower plate surface to thereby provide open communication between the two adjacent screw apertures, i) wherein opposed imaginary secondary axes aligned parallel to the main axis extend through points where the at least two screw apertures meet the open area of the bend relief zone, and ii) wherein opposed. portions of a perimeter of the bend relief zone reside on an opposite side of a respective one of the imaginary axes spaced from the main axis.