I came across some information about PB Swiss Tool’s Operace surgical tools, designed for working with implantable screws.
These are not the kinds of tools you or I would buy, but I found the details to be fascinating nonetheless.
I don’t even want to think about how much any of these tools cost.
Depicted here, PB Swiss makes driver bits designed for the installation of such screws. As with the other examples, it’s suggested that these are used with implantable devices, such as when strengthening broken bones with metallic plates.
But what happens if a screw is damaged and the recess is fully stripped? They make extractor bits for that.
Do I want to even ask how such screws are going to be stripped out like that in the first place?
What happens of the fastener is stripped out, and stuck int he screw head? I suppose that’s how the recesses can be stripped.
Alternatively, the socket head can be drilled into, just enough for it to cut the link between the plate and bone.
But what happens if the screw head is sheared off? Or what do you do with the remainder of the screw after the head and plate are separated from the bone?
Ah, there’s a different kind of extractor for that. It drills out the bone around the threaded section, with the threaded section wedged into the extractor cavity. At a certain point, the threaded stem breaks loose and rotates until it is removed from the bone.
I’m going to be honest and say that I have no idea what’s going on here. It was a caption-less example in the promo video (embedded below).
How does an implanted screw break like that? With healing and growth of the bone?
Want to see more? Here’s a video about how the different tool styles are used:
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