JOURNAL OF ISTANBUL UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF DENTISTRY, vol.41, no.4, pp.1-6, 2007 (ESCI)
Beginning with the last century, the technique of distraction osteogenesis has shown a continuous improvement and a wide spectrum of application era. It has already been used for years for the elongation of the long bones in orthopedics; With the 1980s, it has also been used in maxillofacial surgery for reconstruction of various bone deformities. With distraction osteogenesis, some adaptive changes known as & quot; distraction histogenesis & quot; starts in the neighboring soft tissues by the stretching force applied to the bone segments. These changes actively take place in the vessels, ligaments, gingiva, cartilage, muscle and nerve tissues. Lengthening in the soft tissues plays an important role in the distraction osteogenesis process. Bone segments and soft tissues may be lengthened proportionally with each other. Distraction histogenesis occurs by different biological mechanisms in which the tissues adapt to the changes in the bones.