Sinus Lift Surgery in Sydney

The sinuses are located in the facial bone behind your cheeks and above your upper teeth. These sinuses are empty, air-filled spaces. Roots of the upper natural teeth extend into the maxillary sinuses. When these teeth are removed, often a thin bony floor separates the sinus from the mouth. Dental implants require sufficient bone to secure them. When the sinus floor is thin, placing dental implants becomes impossible without sinus lift.

The key to a successful and long-lasting dental implant is having good quality and quantity of bone to which the implant will be attached. Due to loss of bone in upper back jaw, a sinus lift can be performed to raise and augment the sinus floor, allowing for new bone formation. A sinus lift is one of the most common bone grafting procedures for patients with bone loss in the upper jaw. This procedure aims to grow bone in the floor of the sinus, above the bony ridge of the gum line that anchors the upper teeth. This new bone growth enables dental implants to be placed and secured.

Sinus lift can be performed either awake or asleep depending on the extent of the planned surgery as well as patient preference. 

Types of bone grafts

The bone may be obtained from various sources. 

• Autograft: Patient’s own bone, which is taken mostly from the jawbone. It contains living cellular elements to enhance bone growth and eliminate the risk of rejection of the graft material.
•  Allograft: Derived from human source. This serves as a framework for bone to grow over. Unlike autogenous bone, allogeneic bone cannot produce new bone on its own.
•  Xenograft: Derived from the non-living bone of another species, usually a cow. The bone is processed at very high temperatures to avoid potential immune rejection and contamination.
•  Alloplast: Synthetically made in a laboratory. Some combinations may include a collagen/ceramic composite, which closely resembles the composition of natural bone.

Risks associated with sinus lift

General surgical risks are pain, infection, swelling and bleeding. Sinus related issues are possible but very rare. With bone grafting there is also the risk of the graft failing to be converted into living bone, either partially or completely.

In most cases chewing in the area of the bone graft will be altered for a period of time postoperatively to ensure proper healing. Normal yet careful oral hygiene should be maintained, especially on the teeth adjacent to the surgical site. Nose blowing and sneezing will be altered for several weeks after the surgery to protect the graft from trauma. Depending on the extent of grafting performed, final healing is usually complete at 3-6 months, at which time a CT scan will be taken to evaluate the healing and the new volume of bone.

Types of sinus lift procedure

There are two types of sinus lift procedures depending on the available bone at the implant site. If the bone is 4 to 7mm, transalveolar (osteotome sinus lift) is performed. However, when the bone height is less than 4mm, a lateral window sinus lift is performed. Both procedures can be performed under local anaesthesia (awake) or general anaesthesia (asleep). 

Transalveolar Sinus Lift

A Transalveolar Sinus Lift is a minimally invasive dental procedure aimed at increasing bone height in the upper jaw, particularly in the area of the premolars and molars. This technique is essential for patients who need dental implants but do not have enough bone height due to sinus expansion or bone loss.