Sinus Lift Procedure

As mentioned earlier if a tooth is hopeless and needs extraction, the success of dental implant depends on bone grafting the extraction socket. This procedure is more important in upper posterior teeth than in any other site in the mouth. The reason for this is the quality of bone in the upper posterior area; bone tends to be soft and not supportive for a dental implant. Bone graft to preserve the socket strengthen the bone and makes the implant stronger. If the patient did not do the socket graft after extraction of an upper posterior tooth, the bone resorbs fast because there is a structure under the bone that is called "maxillary sinus". This structure is an anatomical hole in the bone under the upper posterior teeth that gets bigger when the teeth are not present. However, if the patient desires to have implants in this area, another procedure of bone grafting can be performed that is called "sinus lift procedure". This name sounds scary to some people, but it is not as scary as it sounds. There are two different sinus lift procedures.

1. Lateral Sinus Lift Procedure: This procedure is done mostly if the bone resorption is drastic and the patient needs large quantities of bone graft to restore the site for implants. Patient needs to wait six months after this procedure to place the implants because the bone needs to mature enough to support the implants.
2. Crestal or internal Sinus Lift Procedure: This procedure is done mostly if the patient has some bone left to support implants placed simultaneously with the bone graft. Patient does not need to wait because the implants are placed immediately.

It is important that the faster the patient decides to preserve the socket with bone graft after extraction of hopeless teeth the more success of dental implants and less need to do sinus lift procedure.

Contact the offices of Complete Family Dentistry for all your oral surgery health needs. Call us in Fort Lauderdale at (954) 564-3244 or Coconut Creek at (954) 372-2354 to schedule your appointment now. We are conveniently located at 3015 Bayview Drive, Fort Lauderdale, and 5300 W Hillsboro Blvd, Suite 204, Coconut Creek.