A radiographic and clinical follow-up study of 150 oroantral communications

One hundred and fifty patients with oroantral communications were examined radiographically and clinically in a prospective study performed in the 4-year period 1968–1972. Radiographically demonstrable pathologic changes of the maxillary sinus mucosal lining were observed in 96 % of cases examined 1–3 days after the closure of oroantral communications. At 3 months postoperatively or later, 85 % of the sinograms were found to be without evidence of radiographic mucosal hyperplasias. Radiographic examination prior to sinus exposure demonstrated pathologic conditions in 36 % of the patients examined. Observations done simultaneously on the ipsilateral side at the different control periods demonstrated a comparatively constant distribution among the different types of radiographic alterations. Bone defects of the maxillary sinus wall in the injured area were found in 7.4 % of the cases examined in standard intraoral radiographs at follow-ups after 3 months or more. The surgical techniques used in this study are discussed in terms of the incidences of failure (3.3 %), gingival remodeling and vestibular sulcus height.