Surgical procedures often require the bone and cartilage be cut for removal or for doing a repair procedure. Commonly such procedures employ a power saw which may be reciprocating or oscillating. Oscillating power saws are preferred since the cutting rate is faster than with reciprocating saws.
A major problem with oscillating saws is the removal of bone chips created during the cutting procedure. The buildup of bone chips will produce friction resulting in excessive heat at the cutting area. Temperature above 47° C. for more than 1 minute have been shown to severely damage bone tissue and care must be taken to minimize the temperature at the cutting area. In addition bone chips can jam the movement of the blade resulting in a reduction of cutting efficiency and can produce “chattering” of the blade making accuracy of the cut difficult. Saw blades have been designed to aid in chip removal in an attempt to minimize temperature buildup but such blade designs have been only partially successful.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved sagittal surgical saw blade for use in surgical procedures.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved sagittal surgical saw blade that removes chips of material in an efficient manner.
Yet another object is to provide a sagittal surgical saw blade having an improved cutting rate.
Still yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved sagittal surgical saw blade that creates less heat buildup during use than the prior art sagittal saw blades.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention taken in conjunction with the drawings