Patent ID: 8758414

Claim:
A method for reshaping a bone plate to conform to contours of bone surfaces, the method comprising: obtaining a bone plate system comprising: a bone plate preassembled with a plurality of guides removably attached thereto; and first and second bending tools, each bending tool comprising a handle and a head attached to a distal end of the handle, each head defining a cavity configured to engage two of the plurality of guides; fitting the cavity of the first bending tool over a first pair of guides and fitting the cavity of the second bending tool over a second pair of guides; applying opposite leverage forces to each handle of the first and second bending tools while each cavity is fitted over the respective pair of guides, thereby transferring a regionalized bending moment through the guides and into the bone plate to bend a region of the bone plate; and removing the first and second bending tools from the respective pairs of guides.