Purpose: The aim of the present retrospective clinical study was to evaluate the outcome of a maxillary sinus lateral window augmentation protocol, which sought to shorten the treatment time.
Materials and methods: This protocol entailed sinus augmentation with deproteinized bovine bone minerals (DBBM) and simultaneous implant placement in patients with minimal residual bone height. A total of 89 sinus augmentation procedures were performed in 74 patients, in whom 160 implants were placed between 2005 and 2013. The mean residual bone height was 2.6 ± 0.6 mm. The healing time before loading was 4.18 ± 0.63 months.
Results: In a first evaluation in 2014 the early implant survival rate (EIsR) was 96.8% after a mean period of 5.4 ± 2.2 years. A second evaluation in 2019 after a mean period of 10.4 ± 2.2 years showed a late implant survival rate (LIsR) of 83.1%. The failures after 2014 were all caused by peri-implantitis, which affected 14.6% and 16.8% of patients and implants, respectively. This prevalence of peri-implantitis does not appear to be higher than that usually observed in nonaugmented sites.
Conclusion: This reduction in the duration of treatment compared to the usual duration of 9 to 12 months does not seem to affect the predictability of the technique.