4 Reasons You Might Need a Sinus Lift

Over the last few decades, dental implants have skyrocketed in popularity, and it’s not hard to understand why. They’re a much more permanent, natural, and convenient solution for replacing missing teeth than other options for tooth replacement, such as dentures, crowns, and bridges.

Implants consist of titanium posts and tooth-colored caps. The post is anchored into your jawbone and acts as your new tooth root, and then the customized cap is placed on top. After some time has passed, the post fuses with the rest of your jawbone and acts like a regular tooth root, providing much-needed natural chewing and speaking functions.

In some cases, to get dental implants, you may need a lesser-known oral surgery procedure called a sinus lift, or sinus augmentation, to ensure that dental implants can be effectively secured. 

Nodesh Shyamsunder, BDS, and Jasleen Raina, DDS, at Beaches Dentistry in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, lead our team in performing sinus lifts as part of our dental implant process. This month’s blog discusses what a sinus lift does and why you may need one. 

Understanding sinus lifts

When you get dental implants, you need sufficient jawbone quantity and quality. Having  sufficient high-quality bone provides plenty of surface area for dental implants to securely anchor into and perform demanding tasks like chewing.

If you don’t have enough jawbone, we probably recommend undergoing a sinus lift. A sinus lift aims to increase the bone in your upper jaw by lifting your sinus floor above your jaw and then grafting in some extra bone material. 

Do you need a sinus lift?

You most likely need a sinus lift if you have less than 4-6mm of jawbone. You may not have enough jawbone for dental implants  for many reasons and need to undergo a sinus lift. Common reasons for insufficient upper jawbone include:

1. Birth defects
2. Periodontal disease
3. Cancer
4. Large sinuses

Jawbone also has a prospect of “use it or lose it.” If you’ve been missing a tooth for quite a while, your jawbone can become thinner and more fragile. 

What to expect from a sinus lift

Before we start the sinus lift surgery, we administer a sedative to keep you comfortable during the procedure. Your provider then makes a series of incisions to gain access to your sinus floor. Next, all sinus tissues get raised to expose your jawbone, and the new bone gets grafted in. To finish, your provider stitches up the incisions. 

You may have some bruising and swelling after the surgery, so follow all post-care instructions carefully to minimize pain and discomfort. 

While dental implants can sometimes get placed at the same time as your sinus lift, in most cases, your new bone needs to fuse with your existing jawbone first before we can put in the implants. 

Learn more about sinus lift surgery or other steps in the dental implant process by calling our office or booking online. Schedule a consultation today.