[The initial morphological state in the basally pneumatized maxillary sinus--a radiological-histological study in...

Twenty human autopsy specimens of the lateral maxilla with radiologically diagnosed extended basal maxillary sinus were prepared either in the horizontal, sagittal or transversal plane. Generally the cortical bone of the maxillary sinus showed a thickness up to 1000 microns. In areas with root contact histological findings could be described as follow: reduction of thickness, bone perforations, bone perforations combined with apical and or lateral root resorptions and root resorptions without bone perforations. These morphological findings could not be verified by X-ray examination.