Sinus Lift
San Antonio, TX

Dental implants are an exceptional way of helping to keep your jaw intact and healthy after losing a tooth. However, the implants need a strong bone to be able to attach to when they are placed into your jaw. Getting a sinus lift may be required for some patients prior to getting dental implants, if the bone at the bottom of your sinus cavity is not quite strong enough to support the implants at this point in time. To find out if you would need a sinus lift, come in and see us at Excellent Dental Specialists, and let us take a look.

Understanding a Sinus Lift

On top of your upper front teeth is what is known as your maxillary sinuses. These sinuses are full of air, and occasionally, the roots of your upper front teeth. If these teeth have to be removed, that can leave a very thin layer of bone behind separating your maxillary sinuses and your mouth. To replace those missing teeth, you need to have a bone that is strong enough to support implants, but with that bone being as thin as it is, that can occasionally be a problem.

For an implant to take hold and fuse with the bone, the bone needs to be both healthy and strong. If your bone is healthy, but weak, a sinus lift is performed to strengthen the bone. That will provide new bone growth in the area, and give you what you need to hold the implants in place.

What Goes Into a Sinus Lift

What we do for a sinus lift is relatively simple. We go in through the premolar or molar area of your upper jaw, and make an incision. Once we can see the jaw bone, we cut into the bone, and get into the maxillary sinus. We lift the membrane that covers the bottom of this cavity, and we put a bone graft in the created space. We then stitch things back up, and allow the bone graft to heal and create new bone. Once there is new bone in this area, it is often enough for us to put a dental implant into. If the bone is pretty strong, we can occasionally do the implant abutment placing and the bone graft together, but this is only done under special circumstances, and needs to be decided before the oral surgery can begin.

Who should get a sinus lift?

Good candidates for a sinus lift meet many of these criteria, including:

If you want to find out more about a sinus lift, contact us today and schedule a consultation with us!