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Influence of Maxillary Sinus Width on New Bone Formation After Transcrestal Sinus Floor Elevation: A Proof-of-Concept
Teresa Lombardi1, Claudio Stacchi, Federico Berton
1*Private Practice, Cassano allo Ionio, Italy. †Adjunct Professor, Department of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy. ‡Research Fellow, Department of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy. §Senior Researcher and Professor, Department of Medical, Oral and Biotechnological Sciences, University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy. ¶Full Professor, Department of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy. ‖Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics and Informatics, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.
Purpose:
Graft maturation in the maxillary sinus requires adequate angiogenesis and osteoprogenitor cells migration from the surrounding bony walls: the aim of this study was to analyze the correlation between sinus cavity dimensions and new bone formation after transcrestal sinus floor elevation (tSFE).
Methods:
Patients needing maxillary sinus augmentation (residual crest height ≤ 4 mm) were treated with tSFE using xenogeneic granules. Six months later, bone-core biopsies were retrieved for histological analysis in the implant insertion sites. Buccopalatal sinus width (SW) was evaluated on cone beam computed tomography, and correlations between histomorphometric and anatomical parameters were quantified by means of linear regression analysis.
Results:
Eight consecutive patients underwent tSFE procedures: at 6 months, average percentage of newly formed bone resulted 24.2% ± 7.9%. Statistical analysis showed a strong inverse correlation between SW and new bone formation (R = 0.88), and a strong direct correlation between the number of exposed bone walls and new bone formation (R = 0.82).
Conclusion:
Within the limitations of this proof-of-concept study, in which a restricted number of patients were analyzed, tSFE showed more predictable results in narrow than in large sinuses, in terms of new bone formation.
