Sinus augmentations, or sinus lifts, are a surgical procedure which aims to increase the amount of bone in the posterior upper jaw bone, in the area of the premolar and molar teeth where the sinus is usually above, by lifting the lower sinus membrane and placing a bone graft.
When a tooth is lost the alveolar process begins to remodel. The empty tooth socket collapses as it heals leaving a toothless area. This collapse causes a loss in both height and width of the surrounding bone. In addition, when an upper molar or premolar is lost, the maxillary sinus pneumatizes in this region which further diminishes the thickness of the underlying bone.[3 Overall, this leads to a loss in volume of bone that is available for placing dental implants, which rely on bone integration, to replace missing teeth. The goal of the sinus lift is to graft extra bone into the maxillary sinus, so more bone is available to support a dental implant.
