Distraction osteogenesis is a treatment in which new bone is created in the space which comes to exist between bone fragments that have slowly been driven apart by osteogenesis. This treatment, originally developed in orthopaedic surgery, is also commonly used for correcting deformities in the head and neck. After an initial hype, during which time distraction osteogenesis was used to correct deformities in the maxillofacial skeleton, it is beginning to become clearer for which conditions in the head and neck region distraction osteogenesis is most effective or can be seen as a good alternative for 'classical' surgical treatment. In this special issue, the application of distraction osteogenesis in orthopaedics, pre-prosthetic reconstructive surgery, orthodontics and cleft-surgery are discussed and the mandible, the maxilla and the cranio-facial skeleton are also considered. In addition, the possibility that the consolidation period can be reduced in the case of some treatments, such as bone substitutes and growth factors, by combining them with distraction osteogenesis is also addressed.