Mandibula distraction osteogenesis for lengthening the mandibula to correct a malocclusion: a more than 70-year-old German concept in craniofacial surgery

Bone distraction is still on the rise again since McCarthy et al. presented in their clinical investigation new osseous formation in the elongated area while performing the distraction of the mandible in 1992. But at the level of craniofacial skeleton, the initial description to the technique of distraction osteogenesis should be credited to the German craniofacial surgeons Rosenthal for the bone lengthening of the mandible in a microgen patient in 1927. The procedure is described and the original schedules and case are presented.