Implants and sinus-inlay bone grafts in a 1-stage procedure on severely atrophied maxillae: surgical aspects of a 3-year follow-up study.

This 3-year follow-up study compares implant treatment in 39 1-stage sinus-inlay block-grafted patients (study group) with 37 patients treated without bone grafting (reference group), all of whom were edentulous in the maxilla and were treated over the same time period. The cumulative success rate (CSR) of implant stability after 3 years in the study group was 75.3% in grafted areas and 82.2% in non-grafted areas. The CSR after 3 years in the reference group was 93.1%. The mean marginal bone resorption after 3 years of loading was 1.4 mm in grafted areas and 1.6 mm in non-grafted areas in the study group and 1.1 mm in the reference group. Complications noted during the postoperative healing periods correlated significantly with implant failures later on (P < .05). Since prosthesis stability (CSR) after 3 years was 94.9% in the study group and 97.3% in the reference group, it can be concluded that 1-stage sinus-inlay block grafts can be regarded as a safe method with a predictable outcome for use on patients with severely atrophied edentulous maxillae, although increased failure rates are to be expected for implants placed in bone-grafted regions.