Case 6
History:
56 year old male with right facial pain
Findings:
CT scan of the paranasal sinuses showing an irregular dense lesion within the right maxillary sinus. Note the lesion is located at the level of a dental implant.
Diagnosis:
Sinus Lift Surgery
Discussion:
To be a good candidate for the dental implant procedure, a patient must have sufficient bone in the maxillary and mandibular alveoli to support the posts. However, after a prolonged period of being edentulous, the alveolar ridge starts to atrophy and sufficient bone may not be present for implants. Sinus lift procedure or subantral augmentation is aimed at increasing the amount of bone by placing bone-graft material in the maxillary sinus to increase the height and width of the alveolus.
Several types of bone-graft materials have been used: autogenous bone from the iliac crest or maxillary tuberosity, frozen bone, freeze-dried bone, demineralized freeze-dried bone, and hydroxyapatite.
Eventually, many of these patients will have head CT scans for various reasons and the findings in the maxillary sinus may be quite confusing to the radiologist who is unfamiliar with this procedure.
References:
- James J. Abrahams1, Michael W. Hayt and Reuben Rock. Sinus Lift Procedure of the Maxilla in Patients with Inadequate Bone for Dental Implants. Radiographic Appearance. AJR 2000; 174:1289-1292.
- Wheeler SL, Holmes RE, Calhoun CJ. Six-year clinical and histologic study of sinus-lift grafts. Int J Oral Maxillofac Implants 1996;11:26 -34
- Lazzara RJ. The sinus elevation procedure in endosseous implant therapy. Curr Opin Periodontol 1996;3:178 -183
