Mandibular distraction is in short where the surgen breaks the mandible(jaw) and attaches one of a number of different devices to either side of the break & stretches the mandible out about 1mm per day. With our children their lower jaws do not grow at all. So as they get older & everything else grows it looks as though their jaw is getting smaller, due to the lower jaw not growing their airway gets smaller as there is not enough room in their mouths for their tongues and everything gets pushed towards the back of their throats, thus the need for distraction. If we didn't do this, we would need to go back to a Trachey plus there would be a miriad of other issues(speaking, eating, dental)etc.. It's been a while since we have had jaw operations about 3 years but both Bodee & Kayla(15yrs 9yrs 2011) are having them done this year, possibly on the same day. They've usually had them at different times in different years this time we have asked the surgeon Glen Bartlett to do them at the same time. It will make it easier for us by shortening the length of time in the year it takes, plus make it cheaper as the appointments will be at the same time, so less trips to hospital. In the past they have had distracters on anywhere from 2 to 5 months. It's not something you wish on your kids but they work really well, & the end result is they have a better quality of life. We will update this site as things progress