What Are Dental Pliers Used For? A Guide to Dental Tools Trusted by Dentists

The American Dental Association says that over 85% of adults go to the dentist at least once every three years, but the matter still stems from fear, somewhere events in the past and lead to some anxiety surrounding unfamiliar dental instruments. Oftentimes, this fear is founded in the unknown of what is happening.

Take dental pliers. The best substitute term that I can think of is “scary clamp.” Plot twist. They aren’t just scary clamps. They are instruments and tools being used for a multiplicity of the dental profession, from a routine checkup all the way through an extraction or adjustment procedure.

In this guide, we will explore what dental pliers are and their important functions so you can identify them amongst the other tools and instruments in the dentist’s office. This includes what are the differences between dental pliers and teeth whitening instruments, a distal end cutter, and a ligature cutter.

Orthodontic Pliers

These are the most common and diverse group of tools. There are different subgroups, such as wire bending and forming pliers, cutting pliers, and removing and placing pliers, and these all have different tools categorized under them.

Wire bending and forming pliers are used to shape and contour orthodontic wires.

• Bird beak pliers are highly versatile devices with one beak that’s rounded and another that can be more square or conical. They are used to bending wires, creating loops, and adjusting retainers and other dental appliances.
• Adams pliers feature two rectangular beaks with textured surfaces that allow them to have a strong grip. They are mainly used to fabricate and adjust Adams clasps, but are also helpful for bending wires at sharp angles, such as those in headgear and face bows.
• Nance loop-forming pliers were designed for creating various loop sizes in orthodontic wires, especially for adjusting pre-shaped arches.
• Tweed loop-forming pliers have concave beaks with serrations so they can be used to form specific loops and hold wires at ninety-degree angles.
• Universal pliers are also known as Young’s loop bending pliers, and they have one rounded and one flat arm. This tool is used for different processes in bending wires, such as creating loops and sharp bends.
• Contouring pliers are useful for shaping and adapting crown contours and molar bands.
• Hollow chop pliers are used in contouring and remodelling arches for forming palatal arches.
• Arrow pliers are used specifically for bending the closures into arrow shapes for certain clasps.
• Three-prong pliers are used to adjust clasps, place and remove auxiliaries like elastics and power chains, and form loops.

Cutting pliers are designed for cutting orthodontic wires and other materials as precisely as possible.

• Distal end cutters are useful for trimming the excess distal end of arch wires. These are often used with a safety mechanism that holds up the cut portion and prevents it from falling into the patient’s mouth during the procedure.
• Ligature cutters are also called fine wire cutters. These have fine tips that allow a dentist to cut small ligatures, which are wire or elastic ties that hold archwires to brackets.
• Hard wire cutters have been designed to cut thicker, more resilient archwires that are made of materials like nickel titanium, stainless steel, and beta titanium.
• Heavy wire cutters are used for cutting appliance ends and heavier gauge wires.

Removing and placing pliers help in manipulating and removing various orthodontic components.

• Band removal pliers help to gently remove orthodontic bands from your teeth. They often have a peak or tip that can fit under the band with a plastic pad on the opposing part to protect your teeth during the procedure.
• Adhesive remover pliers have a blade on one side and an occlusal pad on the other side, and they are used for removing any excess bonding and adhesive agents after brackets have been debonded.
• Bracket removing pliers were specially designed to remove orthodontic brackets made of ceramic, metal, or plastic.
• Weingart pliers are versatile utility tools that have serrated, curved tips. They are used to guide and move archwires in and out of tubes and brackets, as well as bend archwire ends.
• Mathieu pliers usually have serrated, short beaks with a three-step locking mechanism that makes them efficient for tying and grasping ligature wires.
• Crimp pliers are used to crimp bands, place tubes and stops on arches, and ensure the gingival margins of crowns.
• Howe pliers can be straight or curved with slender tips that are used to hold seating bands and archwires. The curved versions, in particular, are better at accessing posterior areas.

General Dental Pliers

These tools are commonly used in general dental procedures, but not exclusively made for orthodontic purposes.

• Extraction forceps are used to grasp and extract teeth.
• Cotton forceps are fine-tipped pliers that are used to grasp and transfer small items like cotton rolls, pellets, and medications in or out of the patient’s mouth.
• Needle holders are not strictly pliers; they are forceps used to hold and manipulate needles during suturing.
• Haemostatic pliers are used to control any bleeding by clamping on blood vessels.

The use of specific pliers will depend on the dental procedure that’s being performed as well as the patient’s individual needs. To know more about these tools, check out the offerings on the W & H Tech website.