Dental Implant Preparation

During the bone grafting procedure, we will administer an anesthetic to ensure your comfort. Your doctor can then create an incision at the site of a missing tooth and implant the donor tissue. To secure the tissue, we can place small screws, collagen, or sutures, before closing the incision. Over a period of four to six months, the tissue will become fused to your jaw. Once we have verified that this fusion is complete, we can begin planning your implant placement surgery.

As with bone grafting, sinus lift surgery is performed under anesthesia in order to maintain your comfort. We typically use one of two techniques:

Vertical Lift

The vertical lift procedure is the most common type of sinus lift we provide. It is usually recommended to patients who have more than 5 millimeters of bone tissue between the sinus floor and oral cavity. During the procedure, we can raise the sinuses and place dental implants all in one procedure, without needing to augment the bone tissue.

Lateral Lift

A lateral sinus lift may be recommended to patients with less than 5 millimeters of bone tissue between the sinus floor and oral cavity. During treatment, your doctor can create a window in the side of the sinus cavity, before lifting the sinus tissues to add bone tissue. As with a bone graft, you must complete a healing period of four to six months after a lateral sinus lift before the implants are placed.

The exact recovery timeline will vary for each patient. To ensure proper healing, we will provide you with detailed instructions for aftercare. To manage swelling or tenderness the first few days, you can use an ice pack and apply gentle pressure by biting down on a piece of gauze. You should also refrain from using straws and blowing your nose during healing. Typically, side effects subside within a few weeks. If necessary, we can prescribe pain medication in addition to a special mouth rinse to help manage symptoms.