Sinus floor augmentation with simultaneous implant placement in the severely atrophic maxilla: technical problems and complications.

BACKGROUND

A one-stage surgical technique has been adopted that allows simultaneous implant placement in as little as 1 to 2 mm of residual bone. The aim of this retrospective study was to describe results and complications in sinus augmentation of severely atrophic edentulous maxillae in patients with 1 to 3 mm residual bone height and compare them to a group of patients treated following the standard protocol with residual bone height > 4 mm.

METHODS

The study consisted of a study group (N = 25) and a control group (N = 30). All patients were consecutive admissions treated for one-stage sinus augmentation by one surgeon during the years 2001 to 2005. Patients' medical files were reviewed mainly regarding operative technical problems and complications.

RESULTS

Included in the study were 60 sinuses and 164 simultaneous implants placed in grafted maxillary sinuses. Eight implants failed, seven of which were in the study group; three were in heavy smokers with residual bone of 1 to 3 mm. The success rate was 92% for the study group and 98.7% for the control group. A borderline statistically significant difference was found in the success rates between the groups using the Fisher exact test (P = 0.069).

CONCLUSION

Sinus augmentation with simultaneous implant placement can be used to treat the atrophic maxilla in patients with 1 to 3 mm of vertical residual bone height when careful case planning and surgical techniques are used.