Bradlee Dental Care - Restorative, Cosmetic and Orthodontic Dentistry in Alexandria, Virginia

Maxillary Sinus Lift Techniques for Dental Implants

Fig. 1 - Bone morphology and quality
is an important consideration
for treatment planning and surgery.

In the January 2005 issue of Implant News & Views, Dr. Trejot S. Lehri discusses both the internal and external sinus lifts techniques and their importance to a successful implant treatment plan.

It has been observed that the posterior Maxilla is an area where bone resorption may progress very rapidly after tooth loss. Once teeth are lost, bone in the residual ridge shrinks and remodels due to disuse atrophy. In order for dental implants to be placed in the posterior Maxilla successfully, we need an adequate height and width of bone.

The key to long-term success for the implant option lies in the primary stability of the implants and also a suitable number, length and width of the implants. Often, due to a lack of bone height in the posterior Maxilla, these options may be compromised if implants are placed according to residual bone availability.

Fig. 2 - The Schneiderian membrane demonstrates very little elasticity
and the height gained by this technique is safely limited to 2- 4 mm
but some clinicians are reported to have gained as much as 8 mm by tweaking
the hydraulics with grafting materials and a hybrid technique as illustrated
in the radiographs. Radiographs Courtesy of Dr. Michael Weinberg, Toronto, Canada.

One solution then, is to increase the height of available bone so that an implant of sufficient length can be placed. Bone width can also be augmented by options such as block grafting or ridge splitting. The sinus lift is designed to augment bone height by grafting bone to the floor of the maxillary sinus to create an "artificial" height of bone under the residual ridge.