Comparison of the operational difficulty and patient-related outcomes for removing displaced dental implants or tooth roots into the maxillary sinus

Abstract This study compares the operational difficulty and patient-related outcomes of removing a dental implant or tooth root displaced into the maxillary sinus. The study was conducted on 19 patients [median age, 22 years; female, 8 (42.11%)] whose dental implants or tooth roots remained in the maxillary sinus for over 6 months. Nine patients had dental implants in their maxillary sinuses (Group 1), and 10 had tooth roots migrated into the maxillary sinus during tooth extraction (Group 2). All patients were operated on under local anesthesia. The maxillary sinus was accessed by opening a lateral bone window osteotomy on the sinus wall (Caldwell-Luc technique). Age, gender, operation time, smoking habit, duration after displacement, displacement region, operational difficulty reported by the surgeon and patient-related outcomes such as pain, swelling, post-nasal drip, and nasal obstruction were collected retrospectively. The mean age was 43.47 years. The mean age of the patients in the Group 2 was significantly lower (p=0.037). There was no statistically significant relation between the operational difficulty in groups. However,there was a statistically significant difference in operation time between groups. The mean total operation time for Groups 1 and 2 were 66.22 minutes and 35.4 minutes, respectively (p=0.001). Patient-related outcomes such as pain after the operation, nasal obstruction, post-nasal drip and facial swelling were not different between groups (p>0.05). It was determined that the operation time for removing the dental implants from the maxillary sinus was longer than the tooth root. However, operational difficulty and patient-related outcomes were similar.