Absorbable fastener and applying apparatus

A method for applying a surgical mesh material to a hernia repair site during a hernia repair procedure, comprising the steps of:

• creating an access to the location of said hernial repair site to expose said hernial repair site;
• placing a surgical mesh into position over said hernial repair site, wherein said mesh covers said hernial repair site and extends over surrounding body tissue;
• providing an absorbable surgical fastener having a pair of anchors with each anchor defining a longitudinal central axis and having retaining means formed on an outer surface thereof, the respective retaining means each defining a common central axis spaced a distance from the longitudinal central axis, and a suture tether interconnecting said pair of anchors to one another, wherein the pair of anchors are oriented with respect to one another such that the common central axes of the retaining means are disposed outward of the longitudinal central axes;
• fastening said surgical mesh to said hernial repair site by exerting an axial force along the common central axis of each of the respective retaining means, thereby imbedding a plurality of said absorbable surgical fasteners through said surgical mesh and into said surrounding body tissue, wherein said absorbable surgical fasteners are oriented such that a first of said pair of anchors is directly and solely imbedded into said surrounding body tissue and a second of said pair of anchors is imbedded into said body tissue through said surgical mesh;
• and
• closing said access to said hernial repair site,
• wherein each of said pair of anchors include a substantially cylindrical body portion having a conically tapered distal end and a substantially planar proximal end,
• wherein said retaining means includes a series of semi-circular angled projections having a tapered distal end and a proximal surface that is angled with respect to the longitudinal axis in such a manner so as to define a partial thread, wherein the common central axis of said series of angled projections, for each anchor, is spaced a radial distance from the longitudinal central axis of said respective anchor.