Important Things to Remember About Sinus Lifts

When performing dental implants, your dentist may need to perform a sinus lift to create room for your implants. Specialists at Sargon dental perform an Encino sinus lift to enhance oral functionality in patients.

Types of sinus lifts

Vertical: This type of sinus lift is performed through the hole drilled for the implant in a vertical direction.

Lateral: The sinus lift is made from the side above and lateral to where the implant is placed. This type is usually reserved for larger bone grafts.

What you can expect after a sinus lift is performed

• Pain

The procedure involved drilling a hole through a patient's jaw bone inside the sinus. Therefore, there is some pain associated with the sinus lift procedure. However, the pain will last for only the first three days. You should also expect swelling, which will last for the first three days. The swelling should start to decrease on the fourth day and go down after that.

• Bleeding

You will bleed on the first day. Some patients also experience nosebleeds. You should anticipate the bleeding to stop by the end of day two.

• Bruising

Most of the time, you will experience some bruising associated with the sinus lift procedure. The bruising usually appears between two to three days after the procedure. Hopefully, bruising will disappear in seven days but can sometimes last up to fourteen days, especially if additional bone grafting was done outside the ridge in combination with the lateral sinus lift. Most patients do not report a lot of bruising associated with a vertical sinus lift.

• Sutures

Your surgeon will often use sutures that do not come out. Most of the time, two weeks after the procedure, you will go back to the doctor's office to remove the stitches.

Postoperative guidelines

You cannot blow your nose or forcefully sneeze through your nose for the first two weeks after the procedure is done. If you are going to sneeze, make sure that you sneeze with your mouth open and all the air velocity comes through the mouth instead of your nose.

Like most procedures, do not rinse for the first 24hours, do not spit, suck through straws or touch the surgical site. If additional bone grafting was done outside the lateral window, do not apply any pressure or rub the area afterward.

You should not smoke or drink in the first three days after the procedure. It would be ideal if you quit smoking. Smoking decreases the success of your implants and bone grafting in the long run.

For the first five days after the procedure, you should not exercise because some patients report that they sometimes feel worse when they bend down. So, think about what exercising would do.

Absolutely no hot foods and beverages for the first fourteen days after your sinus lift. Your doctor will ask you to eat cold-only foods and cold beverages on the first day and then slowly, you can move to warm foods.

Avoid spicy foods, chips, popcorn, carbonated drinks, and acidic beverages like orange juice and grapefruit juice for fourteen days after surgery.

Contact Sargon Dental to learn more about a sinus lift and what your options are.