Maxillary sinus: anatomy, physiology, surgery, and bone grafting related to implantology--eleven years of surgical experience (1979-1990).

The sinus is a pneumatic cavity of the facial skeleton within maxillary bone. It is very closely linked to the alveolar crest, the resorption of which, especially when tooth loss occurs, could cause a serious obstacle to oral implantology. It is therefore of great importance for this obstacle to be removed by adequate surgical procedures aimed at reducing the expanded volume of this cavity either partially or totally. Several grafting techniques involving autogenous bone (either alone, mixed with a bone-substituting biomaterial, or with insertion of only a biomaterial) are now available. The biomaterials include an increasing variety of treated bone from a bone bank. This paper will endeavor to outline the basic scientific and clinical knowledge required for this important surgery and will also stress the grave dangers that lie behind complications that may result from the inadequate practice of surgery by untrained operators.