Step Pliers, 1/2 mm

Not every vertical or positional discrepancy in the arch calls for a large correction. In many cases, particularly during the detailing and finishing stages of treatment, the clinician needs a small, conservative adjustment, just enough to bring one tooth into closer alignment with its neighbors without overcorrecting and creating a new discrepancy in the opposite direction. Step pliers 1/2 mm orthodontic instruments are built for exactly this kind of fine adjustment.

The double-sided offset beak design is shared across the entire step plier series, with the offset distance between the two beak surfaces set to 1/2 mm on this instrument. When the wire is seated in the jaws and the handles are closed, the wire steps by precisely 1/2 mm at that point while remaining straight to either side. As with the larger increments in the series, rotating the plier 180 degrees before engaging the wire reverses the direction of the step, so a single instrument produces both right-hand and left-hand corrections.

This increment is most useful during the finishing phase of treatment, when gross corrections have already been made with larger instruments or earlier archwires, and the remaining adjustments are fine positional refinements. Using the 1/2 mm step plier where a 1 mm step would otherwise overcorrect helps avoid introducing a new discrepancy that would need to be corrected at a later appointment. Wire capacity matches the rest of the series at up to .022″ x .025″ (.56 mm x .64 mm). Medical-grade stainless steel, corrosion resistant, fully autoclavable.

Product Features

• Step pliers 1/2 mm orthodontic offset beak forms the smallest, most conservative step bend in the standard plier series
• Reversible orientation produces either a right-hand or left-hand step from a single instrument
• Suited to fine detailing during the finishing phase, where larger corrections risk overcorrecting tooth position
• Handles round and rectangular wires up to .022″ x .025″ (.56 mm x .64 mm)
• Pairs with the 3/4 mm and 1 mm step pliers for a complete range of step bend increments
• Medical-grade stainless steel, corrosion resistant, fully autoclavable