stock is mounted in the lathe at the proximal end the cutting blade of the lathe cuts a helical groove in the stock leaving the desired primary thread the direction of rotation is then changed and the desired secondary helical groove is cut across the primary thread thereby creating the cutting surfaces the shape of the helices are determined by the cutting head on the lathe and different cutting heads can be used to create different helices it will be appreciated that both straight and tapered implants can be created in this manner alternatively depending on the manufacturing materials the implant can be formed by passing the stock comprising the body through one or more cutting dies as is known in the art or by the use of molds or forging for implants made of plastics ceramics or polymers molding is the preferred method of manufacture as long as the properties of the implant materials are taken into account any thread pitch thread thickness and cutting edge are possible up the point where the material is too thin to support the load placed on it threads and cutting edges that are too thin may break under higher torques or distort during insertion experiments were performed comparing the insertion of the implant of the present invention with an equal diameter implant using classic cutting flukes in the test protocol high density polyurethane was used to simulate bone a block of polyurethane was secured to a work station and 3 2 mm holes drilled in the block the implants were then inserted using a digital torque wrench tohnichi.