Sinus lift in Turkey

When an upper back tooth is lost, two things happen at once. The jawbone that held the root resorbs, because nothing is loading it any more, and the air space of the sinus expands downwards into the room that opens up. The longer a tooth has been missing, the more likely both have happened.

What runs out is height, not width. There may be plenty of bone side to side and only a few millimetres between the ridge and the sinus floor, which is not enough to anchor an implant. A sinus lift rebuilds that height by gently pushing the sinus lining upwards and placing graft material in the space created.

This is the question that decides your travel, and it is the one most often left unanswered until people are already in the chair. If enough of your own bone remains for the implant to sit stable on the day, the graft and the implant can be done in the same operation. If not, the graft is placed first, the bone is left to mature for months, and the implant goes in at a second operation.

A staged sinus lift means two trips separated by months, plus the healing time for the implant after that. Ask which one applies to you before you book a flight, and ask for the answer to be based on your scan. Nobody can tell you from an intraoral photograph.

The dental implant page explains what the implant itself involves and how long integration takes. If the plan is a graft elsewhere in the jaw rather than under the sinus, that is covered on the bone graft page, and if you would rather avoid surgery in that area altogether, a dental bridge is the alternative worth understanding.

1. 1

   CBCT scan and planning

   A three-dimensional scan measures the bone height under the sinus and shows the shape of the sinus, any septa inside it and whether the lining is already inflamed. This is the step that decides everything else.
2. 2

   Treating sinus problems first

   Active sinusitis, polyps or a blocked drainage pathway are dealt with before a graft goes in, not around it.
3. 3

   Local anaesthetic

   Most sinus lifts are done awake with local anaesthetic, with sedation available. It is not a painful operation, though you will feel pressure.
4. 4

   Access and lifting the lining

   Either through the implant channel or through a small window in the side wall. The lining is separated from the bone and lifted, which is the delicate part.
5. 5

   Placing the graft

   The space under the lifted lining is filled, a membrane is often placed, and the gum is closed with sutures.
6. 6

   The implant, now or later

   Placed at the same time if there is enough native bone to hold it steady, otherwise months later at a second visit.

• Ask whether it is simultaneous or staged, in writing. This decides whether you travel once or twice, and it is the most expensive thing to discover on arrival.
• Send a recent CBCT or ask when it will be taken. And ask for the residual bone height in millimetres. That number is what the technique follows.
• Ask what happens if the membrane tears. Who pays for the return trip, and how long you would have to wait.
• Do not book a flight for the day after. Cabin pressure changes are not what you want over a freshly grafted sinus. Ask the surgeon how many days to leave, and build in room to stay longer.
• Declare every medication and every sinus problem. Antiresorptive drugs and chronic sinusitis both change the plan, and a clinic that never asks is not planning carefully.
• Arrange follow-up at home. Find out who removes sutures and who you see if you develop a sinus infection after landing.

• Do not blow your nose. For as long as the surgeon says. Pressure through the nose pushes directly on the graft you have just paid for.
• Sneeze with your mouth open. It sounds trivial and it is the standard instruction, for the same reason.
• No straws, no smoking, no heavy lifting. All of them change pressure or blood flow in the area during the first phase of healing.
• Swelling and bruising peak after a couple of days. Cheek swelling and a small amount of blood-tinged nasal discharge are expected after an open lift.
• Report these immediately. Fever, increasing pain after the first days, pus, a bad taste or smell, or discharge from the nose on the operated side that does not settle.

• British Dental Association, patient information on implant treatment and bone grafting.
• NHS, information on dental implants and on treatment received abroad.
• General Dental Council, guidance on dental treatment abroad and continuity of care.
• European Association for Osseointegration, patient information on sinus floor elevation.
• Turkish Ministry of Health, register of facilities authorised for health tourism.