Comparison of implant survival following sinus floor augmentation procedures with implants placed in pristine posterior maxillary bone: a systematic review

Sinus augmentation is a commonly used procedure in implant dentistry. However, a general consensus on implant survival after this procedure is still lacking. The objective of this study was to systematically review implant survival following sinus augmentation procedures compared with conventional implant placement in the posterior maxilla. Following the production of a detailed protocol, screening and quality assessments of clinical trials were conducted in duplicate and independently. The search yielded 579 abstracts and 93 were selected for full-text screening. Six publications (five studies) fulfilled all the inclusion criteria and were relevant to the study. Heterogeneity of the selected papers prevented meta-analysis. Implant survival ranged from 73% to 100% for non-augmented sinuses and from 36% to 100% for augmented sinuses in patient-based data. From implant-based data, survival varied between 75% and 100% for both non-augmented and augmented areas. Implant survival appears to show greater variability in grafted sinuses than in the posterior maxilla. However, prospective studies with larger patient numbers and control of confounding factors are urgently needed to provide definitive data on this important procedure.