Introduction
Many surgical procedures have been proposed for the correction of mandibular micrognathia. The very numbers show that there exist inherent possible difficulties in all of them. The open vertical osteotomy of the ascending rami with iliac bone graft chips is offered as a new procedure which overcomes many past difficulties.
Method
Accurate dental models are mounted on an anatomical articulator in an arbitrary postoperative position. Intermaxillary relationship alone dictates this position. A small acrylic splint is made to cover the occlusal and incisal edges of the teeth. A day or two before surgery Erich type arch bars are placed on the maxillary and mandibular arches of teeth.
Surgery
An incision approximately 5 cm. in length is made approximately 1 cm. below the angle of the jaw. The skin subcutaneous tissues and platysma muscle are divided with a knife. Beneath the platysma muscle an electrical nerve stimulator is used to