Sinus Lifts

A sinus lift is a bone graft procedure that adds bone to the upper back part of the jaw. This is often done for people who want dental implants in this area, but do not have enough bone to hold an implant back there. This can be a game changer for people who need dental implants.

Maxillary sinuses are located behind your cheeks and above your upper teeth. But when these teeth are removed, or fall out, a thin wall of bone is all that is left. This wall of bone is usually not thick enough to hold a tooth implant that has to screw into the wall.

A sinus lift raises the sinus floor and grows bone in the floor of the sinus so that dental implants can be screwed into this new bone growth.

During a sinus lift procedure, an oral surgeon cuts the gum tissue where your back teeth used to be, pulls back gum issue to expose the bone, cuts a small circle in the bone, lifts the bony piece into the sinus cavity, and then fills the empty lower part of the sinus with bone graft material (from your own body or synthetic materials).

After a sinus lift, people should not blow their noses or sneeze with their mouths open. After the procedure, there may be some swelling in the area where the bone was added. Patients are usually given pain medicine, antibiotics and antimicrobial mouth rinse to keep infections away. Patients may also be given saline sprays for the inside of the nose, and drugs to prevent congestion and inflammation.

The bone graft will normally take months to become part of the patient’s jaw bone. This new thicker bone will usually need 4 to 12 months to heal before the dental implant can be screwed in it.

The upper back jaw is one of the most difficult areas to screw in dental implants because of the bone quantity and the closeness of the sinus. You want an oral surgeon who is very experienced in the area in order to have a successful surgery, which has to be done exactly right.