To determine if alveolar vertical distraction osteogenesis obtains better results compared to other bone regeneration treatments (guided bone regeneration with membranes and / or filling material, or autogenous bone graft) in terms of bone gain, complications, and implant survival and success rates. An electronic search was performed in Pubmed (MEDLINE), Cochrane Library and Scopus databases in March 2017. Besides, a manual search was carried out. Inclusion criteria were randomized controlled trials published within the last 10 years with at least 1 year of follow-up after implant placement. No language restriction was applied. Exclusion criteria were studies in patients with bone defects produced by trauma, congenital malformation or oncologic surgical treatment. The methodological quality of the selected studies was evaluated by means of the Cochrane Collaboration?s Tool for assessing risk of bias. The reports were classified into different levels of recommendation according to the ?Strength of Recommendation Taxonomy ?. Out of 221 articles, two randomized controlled trials were finally selected for the inclusion in the systematic review. Bone gain and complications were higher with the alveolar vertical distraction osteogenesis compared to the autologous bone graft. There was higher bone resorption with the autologous bone graft. Implant survival and success rates were similar between studies, despite of the used technique. Both alveolar distraction osteogenesis and autogenous bone graft are effective bone regeneration techniques for the treatment of mandibular vertical bone atrophy. A level B recommendation can be established for the use of alveolar vertical distraction osteogenesis for the treatment of the mandibular vertical bone atrophy.