Maxillary protraction and distraction osteogenesis are commonly used in cleft lip and palate patients with maxillary hypoplasia during prepuberty. The effect of the former one is dealing with the timing and the appliance selected while the latter one is associated with the types of distraction osteogenesis including face mask distraction, rigid external distraction and internal distraction. The long term stability of both treatment techniques is still under controversy. This paper reviews the effect and long term stability of the maxillary protraction and distraction osteogenesis.
