What are orthopedic screws?
Orthopedic screws can be used to attach implants to bone, Veterinary Orthopaedic Instruments bone-to-bone fixation, or for soft tissue fixation or anchoring. There are many different screws to choose from:
Designs: Regular, locking, headless, hollow, single or double lead thread
Material: Stainless Steel, Titanium, Bioabsorbable
Features: non-self-tapping, self-tapping, self-drilling, etc.

Advantages of locking and non-locking plate/screw systems:
1. The locking plate and screw system has advantages over the traditional screw system. Traditional plate/screw systems require precise fitting of the plate to the underlying bone. Without this tight contact, tightening the screw would pull the segment toward the plate, resulting in a change in segment position and occlusal relationship. In this regard, the locking plate/screw system offers certain advantages over other plates. Probably the most significant advantage is that the board does not have to be in close contact with the underlying bone in all areas. When the screws are tightened, they "lock" to the plate, stabilizing the segment without compressing the bone to the plate. This makes it impossible to change the reduction of screw insertion.
2. Another potential advantage of locking plate/screw systems is that they do not disrupt the underlying cortical bone perfusion like traditional plates, which compress the lower surface of the plate to the cortical bone.
3. The third advantage of using a locking plate/screw system is that the screws are less likely to loosen from the plate. This means that even when the screw is inserted into the fracture space, the screw will not loosen. Similarly, if a bone graft is screwed to a bone plate, the locking screw will not loosen during the graft union and healing phase.
4. A possible advantage of this feature of the locking plate/screw system is a reduced incidence of inflammatory complications due to hardware loosening. Loose hardware is known to spread inflammation and promote infection. In order for the hardware or locking plate/screw system to loosen, loosening of the screws from the plate or loosening of all screws from their bony insertion must occur.
The locking plate/screw system has been shown to provide a more stable fixation than the traditional non-locking plate/screw system.