Distraction osteogenesis has a lot of advantages over traditional jaw surgery. Maybe surgeons were reluctant to use this technique in the past because the technology was not well enough developed yet. I think the intra-oral devices this australian surgeon uses are just the job though.
If you watch this video very carefully, you will find that it blows away one of the key myths peddled on this forum. The idea that you cannot widen the back of the mandible (the jaw angles). The editing could be a bit better, but it is still fairly obvious that this is exactly what the distraction device is used for. See the diagram (drawn over the x-ray) if you don't get this. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, many people here will swear blind that this is impossible. Even dismissing the evidence before their own eyes as some kind of optical illusion. Widening of the jaw angles is possible, by at least 5 to 6mm, maybe as much as 1cm. Also, the jaw can be widened from the chin, further enhancing this effect.