For the OMFS residents:

One of the surgeons I do pretty much all of my surgical cases with has recently been telling several of my patients that they need internal distraction??? I am familiar with patients that have CF anomalies such as Crouzons that require distraction halos, but for routine orthognathic cases what would be the indications for distraction?

Another concept that I have learned outside of my residency is "osseous fixation" for orthognathic cases that are close to being beyond the "surgical envelope". Is this a common technique practiced in your residency?

Just concerned that my patients are becoming "guinea pigs" because I am young and open to new techniques

Ben

For the OMFS residents:

One of the surgeons I do pretty much all of my surgical cases with has recently been telling several of my patients that they need internal distraction??? I am familiar with patients that have CF anomalies such as Crouzons that require distraction halos, but for routine orthognathic cases what would be the indications for distraction?

Another concept that I have learned outside of my residency is "osseous fixation" for orthognathic cases that are close to being beyond the "surgical envelope". Is this a common technique practiced in your residency?

Just concerned that my patients are becoming "guinea pigs" because I am young and open to new techniques

Ben


I am just a lowly intern, but during one of the weekly conferences that we are to attend, I do recall seeing an internal distraction case.

This particular case involved an indivdual losing several anterior teeth and much of alveolar bone height......to the point where the lips were collapsing upon closing. Anyways, internal appliance was used to distract the alv ridge.......good as new again. I think the height gained was well over 10mm and recover time was close to 8 months.

For the OMFS residents:

One of the surgeons I do pretty much all of my surgical cases with has recently been telling several of my patients that they need internal distraction??? I am familiar with patients that have CF anomalies such as Crouzons that require distraction halos, but for routine orthognathic cases what would be the indications for distraction?

Another concept that I have learned outside of my residency is "osseous fixation" for orthognathic cases that are close to being beyond the "surgical envelope". Is this a common technique practiced in your residency?

Just concerned that my patients are becoming "guinea pigs" because I am young and open to new techniques

Ben
Sigh, and here I thought "internal distraction" would be a thread about trying to remember the nurse's name you'd just passed in the hallway. Thwarted again.