The maxillary sinuses are behind your cheeks and on top of the upper teeth. These sinuses are empty, air-filled spaces. Some of the roots of the natural upper teeth extend up into the maxillary sinuses. When these upper teeth are removed, there is often just a thin wall of bone separating the maxillary sinus and the mouth. Dental implants need bone to hold them in place. When the sinus wall is very thin, it is impossible to place dental implants in this bone.

Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) is a human recombinant protein that induces stem cells in our body to become bone-forming cells and grow new bone. BMP is soaked onto and binds with a collagen sponge, which resorbs, or disappears, over time and is placed in the surgical site where new bone is desired. As the sponge dissolves, the bone morphogenetic protein is released locally and recruits cells to the area and induces certain cells to become bone-forming cells. The BMP also goes away once it has completed its task of jump starting the normal bone healing process.

Periodontist Alan S. Pollack, D.D.S., Ronald B. Odrich, D.D.S. or Hector Sarmiento, D.M.D., MSc., New York, NY, practices a full scope of periodontics with expertise ranging from dental implants to cosmetic periodontal surgery and gum grafting. Alan S. Pollack, D.D.S., Ronald B. Odrich, D.D.S. or Hector Sarmiento, D.M.D., MSc. can now correct a wide variety of periodontal (gum) disease. Our office is located at 225 East 64th Street, Suite 1, New York, NY. Call us at Pollack Periodontal Associates, PC Phone Number 212.838.0940.