Evaluation of the maxillary sinus septa's prevelance, location and height with cbct

Osseointegrated oral implants are widely used to restore total or partial edentulism. İmplant placement in the posterior maxilla is often complicated due to the insufficient bone volume caused by atrophy of the maxillae and pneumatization of the maxillary sinus. The sinus floor elevation is an internal augmentation of the maxillary sinus, which is intended to increase the vertical bony dimension in the lateral maxilla in order to make the use of dental implants possible. The most common complication of sinus floor elevation procedures is the perforation of the Schneiderian membrane. This typically consists during the membrane elevation, and it is associated with the presence of antral septa. All these surgical interventions in the posterior maxillary region require detailed knowledge of maxillary sinus anatomy and possible anatomical variations. Detailed knowledge of the patient's morphological conditions allows exact planning of invasive surgery and helps to avoid complications. The prevalence of the sinus septa differs between populations. Until now, no enough information concerning the Middle East population has been published. The aim of this study was to examine the incidence, count, height and location of antral septa using Cone beam computer tomographi (CBCT) findings in the Department of Periodontology of Dicle Universty. This study was based on the analysis of CBCT images for posterior maxilla which were obtained from patients who visited Dicle University Dental Hospital during the period of November 2012 to February 2015. With the exclusion of cases presenting any pathological changes, 539 patients were retrospectively analyzed. The average age of the patients was 35,95 ± 18,10. The prevalence of septa was not significantly different between males and females. Maxillary sinus septa of less than 2 mm were not taken into consideration. The location of septa was also divided for analysis into 3 regions: the anterior (1st and 2nd premolar), middle (1st and 2nd molar) and posterior (behind 2nd molar) regions. Antral septa were found in the middle (70,9% [105/148]), anterior (11,4 % [17/148]), and posterior parts (17,5 % [26/148]). The mean heights of septa were 6,53 ± 3.92 mm, 6,15 ± 4,83 mm and 8,56 ± 8,54 mm in medial, anterior and posterior parts of maxillary antrum, respectively. In the present study, the prevalence and heights of septa is in the top third values published same in the literature. However we found medial septa prevelance is high from literature. This high prevalence indicates that medical imaging of the sinus is mandatory prior to sinus floor augmentation procedures, and may impact the sinus membrane elevation procedures.