“What happens after a sinus lift and bone graft?”

The graft, which is placed under the sinus following the "lift", is replaced with your own bone during the healing over the following 6 months. Typically, dental implants would then be placed into that new bone.

After a minimum 4-6 month healing period to allow the bone to become hard, an implant can be placed. Your surgeon should explain , discuss this with you and answer all your questions at a consultation appointment.

After the sinus lift and bone graft, the grafted bone becomes part of your body as it heals. Then there is an increased amount of bone to serve as a foundation for the placement of the implant. Without the sinus lift and bone graft, there is insufficient bone to support an implant.

Stephen E. Needle, DDS, FACOMS

Hi, Normally you do sinus lift and bone graft in order to receive an implant in the site. Once the lift and grafting has been done, it will take about 4-6 months for new bone formation, which will be determined for healing with a CT scan. If new bone has formed under the sinus cavity and proper height for an implant exists, then the implant will be placed. I usually wait another six months before placing a crown on that implant. Hope this explains.

This is not a one-size-fits-all procedure, and you should definitely ask your dentist how this will affect you. For a second opinion, you may visit our office. The doctor will need to examine you and look at the appropriate X-rays to better answer your questions.

A sinus lift bone graft is done to create adequate bone volume in the posterior upper jaw for placement of dental implants. The amount of bone in the area of interest can be augmented so that a dental implant, or multiple dental implants, of appropriate dimensions can be placed using this surgical procedure. There are times where only minor increase in bone volume is required, and in those cases it is possible to do the sinus lift bone graft and place the dental implant in one surgery. Other times there is not enough native bone to secure the implant in place as the bone graft heals, which requires staging the grafting procedure and implant placement. If this is the case, one should expect anywhere between three and six months of healing time for the graft to incorporate and heal before implant(s) can be placed. These are very technique sensitive procedures.

There will be some period of discomfort from the surgery. Depending on the surgical procedure used there will be a healing period before implants can be placed. This ranges from 2 to 6 months at the discretion of the surgeon. There are some conditions that permit placement of the implants at the time of the grafting.

Hope this helps.