Patent ID: 8172849

Claim:
A method for distracting a facial bone, comprising: (a) attaching an external midface distractor to the cranium of a patient in need of a distraction procedure, the external midface distractor comprising: (i) a U-shaped halo assembly; (ii) a vertical central rod; (iii) a central adjustment assembly comprising a rear portion and a front portion, wherein the rear portion is attached to the halo assembly and the front portion is attached to the vertical central rod; and (iv) a horizontal cross piece assembly attached to the vertical central rod, the horizontal crosspiece assembly carrying a footplate assembly including a distraction element connected to a bone engaging portion; (b) attaching the bone engaging portion of the footplate assembly to a target facial bone of the patient; (c) angularly adjusting the front portion of the central adjustment assembly with respect to the rear portion in two degrees of freedom, the first degree of freedom being that the front portion is angularly adjusted by rotating in a medial-lateral direction with respect to the rear portion, and the second degree of freedom being that the front portion is angularly adjusted by rotating in a superior-inferior direction with respect to the rear portion; and (d) adjusting the distraction element to move the bone engaging portion of the footplate assembly to distract the target bone.