A bone graft was placed inside your sinus in order to gain adequate bone for implant stability.

 

The amount of pain you feel after the sinus lift surgery depends on the type of the surgery performed. Sinus surgeries that required a lateral approach will be more painful than surgeries that only required a vertical approach. Pain is usually worst in the first 3 days and should improve by 10 to 14 days. If the pain increases significantly a few days (3 to 7 days) after the sinus lift, please call for instructions.

 

The amount of swelling you have after the sinus surgery is related to the type of the surgery performed. The lateral sinus lift approach will likely result in more swelling than the vertical approach. The swelling is usually greatest in the first 5 days and should start to decrease by 7 to 10 days. If the swelling increases significantly a few days (3 to 7 days) after the sinus lift, please call for instructions.

 

Bruising is also quite common after a sinus lift is performed. The bruising is likely going to occur under your eye, in your cheek and/or under your chin. This is more common when a lateral sinus lift procedure has been performed. The bruising will usually show up 1 to 2 days after surgery and may last up 10 to 14 days.

 

You will probably have a little bit of bleeding and a pink color to your saliva for the first day or two after surgery. Holding small amounts of ice water in your mouth will usually stop any slight oozing. However, if there is excessive bleeding the day of or continual bleeding the day after surgery, please call for instructions.

 

You might also have a nose-bleed after surgery as well. This nose bleed will generally occur in the first 1-2 days. Make sure you do not blow your nose to attempt to clear the nose bleed as this may cause your sinus membrane to rupture. Pay close attention to the sinus-lift post-op instructions provided.

 

The sutures need to stay in place at least 10 days but may be left in place up to 1 month. We do this in order to keep the membrane and bone graft from coming out from under the gums.

 

The time it takes for the bone graft placed during the sinus lift procedure “to take” is generally around 6 months. If implants were not placed at the same time as the sinus lift we will need to take a new 3 dimensional x-ray image 6 months after the sinus lift to assess the amount of bone available for implant placement.