When a 57 year-old woman in Italy was facing constant pain and inflamed Sinuses along with facial pain and visited a doctor, she was in for a shock when the CT Scan showed a Dental Implant in the left Sinus located beside the left eye. The 2-centimeter long metal object was identified as a Dental implant which was tracked back to about 2-years back when the patient had undergone surgery for Implant placement.
The patient recalls having undergone surgery to plane a dental implant to replace a missing tooth about 2-years back. On observation, the site of Implant placement is now totally healed without any signs of the implant clinically. It is not clear why the Dentist who performed the Implant placement surgery left it without placing a prosthetic crown. It cannot be said when the Implant entered the sinus cavity if it was when the implant was placed or afterwards with bone loss as there is a gap of 2 years.
There have been cases when Implants have entered into the Sinus cavity and this required surgery to be removed. For a Dental Implant to be successful, the implant needs to integrate with the bone as the implant is a replacement to Roots. If this does not happen, mostly in the case of Maxillary molars which are in very close proximity to the Maxillary Sinus the implants might enter the Sinus cavity in case of Bone loss. With dental implants, it is important to look at the advantages and disadvantages of Dental Implant before finalizing on the treatment plan for replacing a missing tooth.
In the images below as shown in New England Journal of Medicine, the implant in the sinus cavity can be seen and the removed implant is also seen post surgery. This case was published in the Journal in 2013, but as it is a documentation which points out the risk of improper implant placement and planning we are sharing it here.
Source: Case Report, New England Journal of Medicine.
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