VDW C-PILOT® 12.5, 25mm (6)

VDW® C-PILOT® ISO 12.5 · 25 mm · 6 sterile files

The half step that stops you forcing the jump from 10 to 15

The 010 is loose, the 015 will not go, and you are about to push it anyway. That gap is arithmetic, not bad luck: 010 to 015 is a 50% increase in tip diameter in a single instrument, in the part of the canal least able to absorb it. VDW's intermediate ISO 12.5 breaks it into two: 010 to 12.5 is a 25% step, 12.5 to 015 another 20%. Same file, same inactive pilot tip, one fewer reason to lean on the handle.

This pack: 6 × VDW®STERILE C-PILOT® ISO 12.5, 25 mm, .02 taper · pre-mounted silicone stoppers · mfr code 368 025 012
Made by VDW GmbH, Munich, Germany
Note: listed as 012 on our site; VDW's designation is the intermediate size ISO 12.5

Why an intermediate size is worth a drawer slot

The ISO series is not evenly spaced in the way clinicians instinctively read it. Below size 60 the steps rise in fixed increments of 0.05 mm, so at the fine end each one is proportionally enormous: going from 010 to 015 asks the canal to accept half as much again at the tip. That is where the file starts to cut on one wall, where the apical constriction gets nudged, and where a canal that was following you begins to resist.

The intermediate sizes were introduced precisely to soften that transition, and VDW list ISO 12.5 as part of the standard C-PILOT® range rather than a special order. In a narrow, curved or previously calcified canal it is often the instrument that turns a fight into a sequence – and because it is the same thermally hardened stainless steel with the same inactive pilot tip, it behaves like the 010 you have just finished with rather than like a new instrument.

Intermediate size ISO 12.5 available.
— VDW's published specification for the STERILE C-PILOT® range. Very few hand file ranges stocked in the UK include it.

Using it

› Only after 010 is loose – the intermediate size smooths a transition; it does not replace establishing the path in the first place.
› Recapitulate between sizes – a quick return to 010 confirms patency before you go up.
› Irrigate between instruments – each step generates dentine mud that the next file will otherwise pack apically.
› Single use – supplied gamma sterilised; VDW recommend single use, as does the UK position on endodontic reamers and files since April 2007 (CMO(2007)5).

Questions we get asked

Is 012 the same as ISO 12.5?
Yes. VDW print it as an intermediate size and our catalogue shortens it to 012. There is no separate ISO 12 instrument – the tip diameter is 0.125 mm.

Do I need it if I use a mechanical glider?
Often not – a WaveOne® Gold Glider takes the canal from a loose 010 to a 015 tip on its own. Where it earns its place is the canal that will not accept the glider yet, and in practices that prefer to finish the glide path by hand.

Where does it sit in the sequence?
006 or 008 to find the path, 010 to define it, ISO 12.5 to widen it gently, 015 to finish it. Then the motor.

Complete the system

VDW® C-PILOT® ISO 12.5 · 25 mm · .02 taper · intermediate size · brown/bronze · glide path · calcified canals · stainless steel · sterile · single use · 6 files · VDW GmbH · REF V040368025012 · also in 21 mm and 19 mm