Bilateral Distraction Osteogenesis for the Management of Mandibular Hypoplasia

Introduction: Patients with mandibular bilateral hypoplasia usually present with varying degrees of facial deformity, upper airway obstruction and difficulty with feeding. Treatment of such cases is very important. Distraction osteogenesis (DO) using intra and extra-oral devices provides an excellent alternative when other surgical techniques do not prove to be satisfactory. Aim of the Work: To evaluate the efficacy of bilateral DO in the treatment of mandibular hypoplasia. Patients and Methods: Ten patients (7 females and 3 males), their ages ranged from 7 years to 23 years (with a mean of 14.45 years). They presented with bilateral mandibular hypoplasia with facial deformity, difficulty in feeding and three of them presented with obstructive sleep apnoea. All patients were treated with bilateral mandibular distraction osteogenesis, using intra and extra-oral unidirectional distractors. The follow-up periods were immediately, 3 months, 6 months and one year post distraction. Results: The patients were successfully treated using bilateral unidirectional distractors After completion of distraction, retrognathia was corrected in all patients. The "subjective" symptoms had disappeared completely or had been alleviated with obvious increase of airway space. And good stability of skeletal changes (defined by the lateral cephalograms measurements). Conclusion: DO is an effective method for management of facial deformity and obstructive sleep apnea with good stability of the results.