We congratulate Dr Seo-Yeon Jung et al for their case report, “Transport distraction osteogenesis combined with orthodontic treatment in a patient with unilateral tempomandibular joint ankylosis” in the February 2017 issue of the Journal (Jung SY, Park JH, Park HS, Baik HS. Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop 2017;151:372-83).

The case report presented a well finished patient with distraction osteogenesis of the mandible. The mechanics after distraction osteogenesis helped to improve the cant of the maxillary occlusal plane. However, there are certain doubts regarding the case report that require further discussion.

The purpose of the L-shaped distraction was to reconstruct the affected mandible. The authors did not comment on the relapse of the mandibular distraction. The relapse of the distracted segment is obvious from the OPG taken at the postsurgical consolidation phase and postsurgical and postorthodontic retention of 3 years, but relapse is not appreciable on the superimposition. The surgical preparation of the recipient and donor sites could have improved the prognosis.

The maxillary occlusal cant correction was dentoalveolar, achieved predominantly by extrusion of the posterior teeth. We request the authors to suggest whether bimaxillary surgery with the maxillary LeFort I osteotomy and conventional IVRO and bone plating could have been used for occlusal cant correction at this stage in this patient.

We would appreciate it if the authors would explain these doubts for better comprehension of the concepts.