Malocclusion seriously affect oral health and general health of patients, and keep a high prevalence remaining for many years. Orthodontics is an effective treatment. It is reported that osteogenesis by drag reduction distraction of the periodontal ligament can safely and efficiently accelerate the movement of orthodontic tooth, so might be used to solve some difficult problems caused by traditional correcting methods which took a long treatment duration, increased the risk of dental caries, periodontitis and root resorption. However, periodontal ligament distraction (PDLD) has not been widely used in clinical practice due to large force, inconvenient exertion, and poor comfort of patients. With the rapid development of high-throughput sequencing technology, more mechanical force-sensitive genes, non-coding RNA and lncRNAs/circRNA-miRNAs-mRNAs regulatory network maps involved in regulation have been found. At the same time, the research and development of accurate measurement and control and automatic distraction devices have also made great progress, which can gradually overcome the technical defects of PDLD in the past. A variety of new automatic distraction devices such as motor system, hydraulic system, shape memory alloy and piezoelectric motor have been developed, which have achieved encouraging results in animal experiments and clinical trials. Therefore, PDLD has made rapid progress in minimally invasive and automated aspects. The previous studies addressing the development history, important technical parameters, molecular biological mechanism, histological characteristics, technical advantages and innovation of PDLD have been reviewed in present article, in order to make a comprehensive summary of the latest progress in research and provide reference for accelerating the technical innovation and clinical application of orthodontic tooth movement.