Distraction Osteogenesis

Today’s healthcare system provides improved access to children and adolescents with mild to severe skeletal facial deformities. 

This allows us to intervene and provide interceptive care at a younger age in an effort to help correct abnormal growth and prevent more complicated surgeries later in life. 

Distraction Osteogenesis (DO) is a technique that allows for tissue expansion and bony movements at the same time.  This advanced technology may be appropriate to minimize deformities in developing adolescents and safely expand tissues in patients such as:

1. Those with large defects of soft tissue and bone that may relapse with more conventional procedures,
2. Patients who have undergone many previous surgeries and have large amounts of scar tissue, that may cause relapse (such as cleft lip and palate patients or patients who have had accidents and trauma),
3. In patients who need dental implants or dental rehabilitation in the future.

Our approach is to custom-design DO appliances on a case by case basis to make them as patient friendly as possible.  We take advantage of computer technology to integrate the use of CT scans to make actual replicas of the patient to customize the distractors.  We prefer to use intraoral appliances, when possible.

This patient’s left upper jaw failed to grow down normally.

She wore a small device inside of her mouth.  By turning the device everyday, the upper jaw grew down to a more normal position.

This is her bite at the end of treatment.  She went back to her orthodontist for continued work on her braces. 

This patient’s upper jaw did not grow enough.  He had a deep underbite.

The patient wore an intraoral (inside of the mouth only) upper jaw appliance.  By turning the appliance everyday, his upper jaw grew forward.  This is how his bite looked at the end of treatment.

The Center for Corrective & Cosmetic Jaw Surgery
800-A Fifth Avenue, Suite 101, New York, NY 10021. Phone 212.772.0300 Fax 212.535.5270 Email drstuartsuper@yahoo.com