Five years ago, as my implant practice was developing really well, I realised that I was sending a considerable amount of patients away due to lack of height in the posterior maxilla or sending them out to a maxillofacial surgeon for sinus lifts.
One of the problems with this situation was that it was hard to speak to patients about something that you had little belief in. At that time I wasn’t providing the procedure myself and I didn’t really feel that I could speak with a great deal of confidence about it and I think that came across to the patients and they just weren’t interested in it.
I decided to try and rectify that by learning much more about it an initially I went to shadow the maxillofacial surgeon (Phil Hollows) who was providing the treatment.
I watched the lifts being done and was much more intrigued at the fact that I felt it would be something I could easily carry out with my oral surgery skills already present.
More research in the form of peer review ensued and I would discuss it with people at conferences who were providing sinus lifts who were universally of the opinion that I should already be doing this and that I shouldn’t hang about.
I was keen though to get some form of formal training under my belt before I started to provide these in practice and I was privileged enough to go to the University of Gratz in Austria on the Geistich Cadaver course, part of which was the provision of sinus lifts.
I was lucky enough on that occasion to travel with Rob Dyas, the implant surgeon from Sheffield, and he had provided hundreds of sinus lifts and I could chat to him and pick his brains about it.
Following that, I was able to get going, but continued to keep up to date with some text books and by attending any courses or events where I would find out more information.
The whole process culminated fantastically this year with the publication of the ITI’s 5th Treatment Guide, which is entirely centered around sinus floor elevation. I really feel it has been a fantastic journey and I am now in a good position having provided well over 100 sinus grafts.
It is also fantastic to see some of the dentists I have mentored over the years beginning the process as I did about 5 years ago, starting to provide sinus grafts for their own patients.
The final piece of the jigsaw, for the moment for me, will be to attend the master class at the University of Bern in January 2013 run by Danny Buser, which centers around bone grafting and sinus floor elevation.
Hopefully this will provide me with some assurance that I am going about my business in the correct fashion.
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