A surgical fastener applying apparatus (1000) comprising: a fastener assembly including an anvil section and a cartridge section, the cartridge section (100) and the anvil section (1014) movable from an unclamped position to a clamped position to clamp tissue therebetween, the cartridge section having a plurality of retention slots (106) a plurality of surgical fasteners (130), each surgical fastener having a backspan (134) and legs (132) and being disposed in a corresponding retention slot a plurality of pushers (1132), each pusher having a crimping pusher (1135a,1135b) and a dimpling pusher (1135c) an actuation sled (1134) that translates distally through the cartridge and including cam wedges that contact the pushers and drive the pushers and drive the fasteners against the anvil section, each cam wedge having a crimping wedge surface and a dimpling wedge surface, the crimping wedge surfaces contacting the crimping pushers as the actuation sled translates, and the dimpling wedge surfaces contacting the dimpling pushers as the actuation sled translates, the dimpling pushers forming recesses in the backspans of the surgical fasteners.
