A bending tool is provided for reshaping a bone plate that is preassembled with a pair of spaced-apart threaded, cylindrical elements removably attached to the bone plate and extending above the top surface of the bone plate. The bending tool has a handle and a distal head attached to the distal end of the handle. The distal head has a cavity that is sized and shaped to fit over the pair of spaced-apart threaded, cylindrical elements. The user, while holding the bone plate, may manually apply a leverage force to the bending tool while the cavity of the distal head is fitted over the pair of spaced-apart threaded, cylindrical elements to transmit a sufficient, regionalized bending moment to the bone plate through the pair of threaded, cylindrical elements to reshape the bone plate.
