All About Sinus Lift - What is a Sinus Lift?

A sinus-lift is a surgical procedure, performed by trained dentist or dental specialist, to enhance bone mass in the top jaw (maxilla), which increases the chances of successful placement of dental implants. Bone from another part of the body, such as the iliac crest, or artificial bone grafting material is grafted into the bone (endosseous) below the floor of the maxillary sinus. In the upper jaw the amount of bone is condensed by the existence of the sinus. It is also known as sinus augmentation.

A sinus lift is needed when there is not enough bone in the upper jaw, or the sinuses are too close to the jaw, for dental implants to be placed.

Many people who have lost teeth in their upper jaw predominantly the back teeth, or molars and do not have sufficient bone for implants to be placed. This is mainly due to the anatomy of the skull; the back of the upper jaw has less bone than the lower jaw. In many people bone may have been missing because of periodontal or gum disease.

Many a times tooth loss leads to a bone loss as well. Once teeth are gone, bone begins to be reabsorbed, that is the bone is absorbed back into the body. After the teeth have been missing for a long time, there is not enough bone left to place implants.

Another reason why people go in for sinus lift is that the maxillary sinus may be too close to the upper jaw for implants to be placed. The shape and the size of this sinus vary among persons. Besides, the sinus can get larger as you age.

The bone used for the lift can come from ones own body. The doctors remove bone from your hip or tibia to use for the sinus lift.

There are a number of ways to augment the bone height: such as On lay grafts, Interpositional (Lefort I) grafts, Inlay grafts for nasal floor, Sinus-lift and grafting.

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