A sinus augmentation, also known as a sinus lift, is a treatment that can be beneficial or necessary to enable successful implant placement. This is done by implementing bone structure to the upper jaw area of the back teeth. Being that a key area of the sinuses, the maxillary sinuses, are located above the upper jaw bone, when there is tooth loss, there may not be significant bone in that area to place a dental implant. In addition, losing a tooth leads to general bone loss because the area becomes reabsorbed by the bone once the tooth is lost or removed. Not only do these factors affect it, but also the amount of time and reason the tooth was lost is important. When the time is extended between the loss and replacement, or the tooth loss was caused by periodontitis, the implantation may become harder due to more lack of bone for placement.
In order to have a successful dental implantation procedure, our experienced team may recommend a sinus lift. This procedure involves gently lifting the sinus membrane and moving it away from the jaw. Then we add bone grafting material where the sinus was to add bone structure, aiding in implementation.
Our team normally recommends four to nine months to heal after this procedure to ensure that the grafted bond binds to the natural bone well. The dental implant can then be placed on the new area and replace the missing tooth. To find more information about the sinus lift procedure, or to find out if it’s right for you, don’t hesitate to contact us today.