title: Maxillary sinus lateral wall thickness and morphologic patterns in the atrophic posterior maxilla.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of the present study is to examine the sinus lateral wall thickness (LWT) of atrophic posterior maxilla (<10 mm) of patients with complete and partial edentulism and determine the influence of residual ridge height (RH), sex, and age on maxillary LWT.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four hundred fourteen measures were taken from 140 consecutive patients that met the inclusion criteria. On the selected sagittal section, a built-in digital caliper recorded in millimeters the RH and LWT (a perpendicular line at 3, 5, 7, 10, 13, and 15 mm from the lowest point of the sinus floor). Edentulous spans were further classified as complete edentulous atrophic maxilla (CEM) and partial edentulous atrophic maxilla (PEM). The mixed linear model was used to test the effects of sex, type of edentulism, edentulous span, and RH on the measurement of the LWT of the sinus.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean LWT for PEM was 1.71 ± 0.12 mm, and for CEM, 1.57 ± 0.07 mm (P = 0.01). The mixed model yielded significant effect of edentulous span (P = 0.048) and interactions among type of edentulism and edentulous span (P <0.001) and edentulous span by RH (P <0.01). Age and RH were positively associated with LWT; however, they did not interact with RH, sex, or type of edentulism. RH has been shown to correlate with edentulous span (P <0.001) and type of edentulism (P = 0.01). The longer the edentulous span, the thinner the LWT. Similarly, RH was larger for PEM (6.85 ± 0.34 mm) than CEM (5.69 ± 0.26 mm).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The maxillary sinus lateral wall tends to increase in thickness from the second premolar to the second molar and from 5 mm up to 15 mm. In addition, RH, presence of teeth adjacent to the edentulous atrophic ridge, and age were shown to influence maxillary sinus LWT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, School of Dentistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Monje
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Catena
authors.forename: Florencio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Monje
authors.forename: Raúl
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-García
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Galindo-Moreno
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Suarez
authors.forename: Hom-Lay
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000539:Alveolar Process / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D001284:Atrophy; D002508:Cephalometry / Q000379:methods*; D054893:Cone-Beam Computed Tomography / Q000379:methods; D003724:Dental Arch / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D007575:Jaw, Edentulous / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D007576:Jaw, Edentulous, Partially / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008437:Maxilla / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D008443:Maxillary Sinus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors