Bone grafting to the maxillary sinus from the lateral side of the mandible

Patients who were unable to have an implant of the maxilla without a bone graft were operated on by a modified sinus lift method, under local anaesthesia. Cortical bone grafts, harvested from the lateral side of the mandible, were forced horizontally into a slot, made in the lateral sinus wall after a mucosal sinus lift. The immediate stabilization of the graft permitted the dense packing of the space below the horizontal graft with bone chips, which probably contributed to the fast healing of the bone. We saw eight patients (10 sites) for long-term follow-up. Two or three Brånemark standard implants were inserted into the grafted area 3 months postoperatively. The abutments were connected 5 to 6 months after implantation. We have now adopted this modified method as the standard for bone grafting to the maxillary sinus in both of our maxillofacial centres.