Patent ID: 8545540

Claim:
A bone plate system for use in fixation of a fractured bone, said system comprising: a) a bone plate for placement on the bone, said bone plate including an elongate shaft-like body and a head oriented transverse to said body, said head having a plurality a threaded first holes for receiving and retaining the heads of first fasteners in threaded engagement with said threaded first holes, said threaded first holes defining respective fixed holes axes, said shaft having a plurality a second holes longitudinally displaced along said shaft for receiving second fasteners therethrough, and said plate including a bone contacting first surface, an opposite second surface, and a thickness extending in a dimension between said first and second surfaces; and b) a plurality of removable tubular drill guide tips threadedly engaged within said plurality of threaded first holes of said bone plate in axial alignment with said fixed hole axes, each drill guide tip having an internal surface defining a bore, a proximal guiding end, an externally threaded distal end for engagement with said threaded holes, and a longitudinal axis extending through a radial center of said bore, said drill guide tip having a body portion extending between said guiding end and said plate, said body portion having a length that extends above said second surface of said bone plate by more than said thickness of said bone plate, yet said length is sufficiently short so that said body portion does not interfere with a body portion of an adjacent drill guide tip, said body portion having an external surface defining a non-circular cross-sectional shape transverse to said longitudinal axis.