ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Surgery
Tolerance and surface analysis of veterinary bone screws
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- 2Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland
- 3University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus
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While the analysis of human orthopedic implants is frequently reported in the literature, similar evaluations of veterinary orthopedic implants are rarely conducted and remain poorly documented. This study aimed to analyze the dimensional accuracy of 2 mm veterinary cortical bone screws and assess their compliance with standard expectations. A total of 73 veterinary 2 mm orthopedic screws were examined using high-magnification optical microscopy. Measurements were calibrated against a precision measuring scale. Six parameters were assessed for each screw: length, major diameter, minor diameter, pitch, combined thread angle (α + β), and surface finish. Surface finish was graded based on visual assessment under magnification. Most screws exhibited dimensional inaccuracies, with the majority falling outside acceptable tolerance ranges. The proportion of screws outside tolerance was 80% for length, 78% for major diameter, 77% for minor diameter, 98,6% for pitch, and 60% for combined thread angle (α + β). Additionally, surface finish was deemed unacceptable in 40% of the screws. The majority of 2 mm veterinary cortical bone screws evaluated in this study did not meet dimensional standards. These deviations from expected tolerances may adversely affect screw biomechanics and the bone–implant interface, indicating suboptimal manufacturing quality. Greater quality control measures are needed to ensure reliable and safe implant performance in veterinary orthopedic applications.
Keywords: analysis1, bone2, Implant3, screw4, surface5, tolerance6, veterinary7
Received: 12 Oct 2025; Accepted: 22 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Ober, Mccartney, Mac Donald and Yiapanis. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ciprian Andrei Ober
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