One trauma case is presented. An ice-hockey puck fractured the mandible and caused major soft tissue damages including the periosteum. After healing the alveolar ridge was lost and a reconstruction had to be made. Distraction osteogenesis (DO) treatment was conducted but a postoperative infection disrupted the bone distraction phase and eventually synthetic bone matrix had to be used. The patient experienced considerable problems post-DO surgery. However, after three surgical procedures dental

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... mplants were inserted. DO is a reliable treatment in patients where vertical bone height is missing, and healthy tissue is present. However, when the periosteum is damaged or postoperative infection is present, DO is disturbed and in this case a synthetic bone matrix had to be employed. One and a half years later a prosthetic bridge has been installed giving delayed but satisfactory result.