An investigation on distraction osteogenesis in maxillofacial surgery

Distraction osteogenesis (DO), firstly introduced to the medical world by Russian scientist Ilizarov"nfor long bone lenghtening in orthopedics can be considered as an appropriate substitute in the treatment of"nmaxillofacial deformities. Natural events occuring during the repair of a fractured bone segment not only lead"nto the desired bone length but also prevent from the undesired disadvantages of osteotomies and bone"ngrafting. Recently a lot of investigations have been conducted to evaluate the efficacy of DO in the treatment"nof maxillofacial deformities, which in some cases have lead to successful results. In the present article a lot of"nissues in maxillofacial surgery and different treatment goals associated with DO are discussed.