To Distract or Not Distract in the Surgical/Orthodontic Patient

Distraction Osteogenesis (DO) is a gradual incremental bone lengthening technique. It offers therapeutic benefit to specific patients. Many patients with significant skeletal facial disharmony may require multiple surgical events throughout their lifetime. Understanding indications and timing for the use of distraction is crucial to the success of surgical/orthodontic care, thereby, minimizing the number of surgical events and improving the quality of the final result. Diagnostic decisions and well delivered multidisciplinary care are key to successful clinical outcomes. Recognizing how distraction fits into skeletal facial surgical care is the center of this discussion.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize when distraction is indicated as a surgical option.
• Recognize the timing of distraction as part of a comprehensive surgical/orthodontic plan.
• Recognize when distraction is not an appropriate treatment option.