Surgical Removal of Dental Implants Displaced into the Maxillary Sinus

The accidental displacement of roots, endodontic mate­ rials, and dental implants into the maxillary sinus is a relatively common complication in dental clinical prac­ tice [1]. Migration of implants into the maxillary sinuses (during surgery or after a period of function) has been reported [2­9]. Displacement of implants in the sphenoid [10] and ethmoid sinuses [11] has also been described in the literature. As implant displacement in the paranasal sinuses may be followed by infectious complications [12­15], an imme­ diate or early removal of the displaced implants is indi­ cated. That procedure can be performed either through the implant site, or by creating a window in the ante­ rior/lateral wall of the maxillary sinus (if the implant is displaced in the maxillary sinus) [3, 5, 16], or by means of an endoscopic nasal approach [6, 8, 9]. In this article we described four cases in which a dental implant, displaced into maxillary sinus, was removed by the posterior Caldwell­Luc approach. The integrity of the maxillary division of the trigeminal nerve was preserved in all patients and they had no complaints and testing showed no signs of nerve injury. There were no postop­ erative antrum­related complaints; the wounds healed completely, and there was no residual oroantral fistula.