Rehabilitation of completely and partial edentulous patients with dental implants has proved to be a safe and predictable procedure. However, reduced bone height and the proximity of the maxillary sinus are challenging limitations for dental implant placement in the posterior maxilla. Besides the use of short and tilted implants, one of the most frequently used surgical techniques for gaining adequate bone height in the posterior maxilla is external or internal maxillary sinus floor elevation. Several systematic reviews of the literature showed high overall implant survival rates well beyond 90% for sinus floor evaluation. In addition, a recent Cochrane Systematic review including 18 randomized controlled trials (RCT) confirmed these high survival results. However, the patients’ perspective was mostly not appropriately taken into account in these analyses, although patient satisfaction presents one of the most essential objectives to obtain in oral rehabilitation. Hence, the question remains if the patients benefit from the sinus elevation procedures regarding their oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). However, studies evaluating the patient’s perception after sinus elevation are very rare.

OHRQoL is a complex patient-centered concept that observes the impact of oral states of health on the well-being of individuals and society and assesses the effects of dental interventions. Different items like age, alcohol or tobacco habits, dental diseases, dentition, tooth loss, and condition of prosthesis affect OHRQoL. In addition, sociodemographic, financial, cultural, educational, psychological, and dietary factors have to be considered. These patient-oriented outcomes can be examined using several different tools, including the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP), which is the most widely applied measure. The OHIP represents a self-reported questionnaire on OHRQoL consisting of 49 questions under seven subscales. The OHIP was translated to several different languages like German, Spanish, and Chinese, and shortened versions like OHIP-14 were introduced to reduce the response time. The validity, sensitivity, and specificity of OHIP as a measuring instrument were validated in a huge variety of settings.

In conclusion, little information is available about patient’s perception of sinus augmentation procedures. The aim of the present study was to assess whether sinus augmentation procedures together with implant placement and prosthetic rehabilitation improve quality of life in dental patients using a modified German OHIP and to examine the survival rates after this procedure.