In this study, 10 consecutive healthy patients were selected for a unilateral MSFE procedure. Five patients received dental implants 9 months after MSFE and five patients underwent dental implant surgery 12 months after MSFE. In the 9-month group (three men and two women), the average age was 56.6 years (range 40 to 64 years); in the 12-month group (one man and four women), the average age was 58.2 years (range 51 to 67 years). All patients were partially edentulous in the posterior maxilla without the need for onlay bone grafting of the alveolar crest to achieve an adequate alveolar ridge. A minimal native bone height of 4 mm (calculated from measurements on a preoperative panoramic radiograph) was preferred in both study groups. All selected patients were non-smokers, showed no systemic disease, and were not drug users.

The study was performed in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Since the study involved CE-marked devices (calcium phosphates) being used for their intended purpose (use as carrier material for bone augmentation in sinus floor elevation procedures) and the harvested material can be regarded as surgical waste, no specific regulatory approval from a medical ethical committee was required. Patients provided written consent before the study-related procedures were undertaken. The biopsies were retrieved during dental implant surgery by means of trephine drills, implicating the tissue in the hollow drill is considered surgical waste. For the patient, this is not an additional invasive procedure. The different healing times did not have a negative impact on the patients.

Ten patients were scheduled for a unilateral two-stage MSFE top-hinge door lateral window technique procedure, as described by Tatum [2]. All 10 patients were treated in an outpatient procedure under local anesthesia. Perioperatively, all patients received an antibiotic profylaxis, consisting of amoxicillin 500 mg four times daily for 7 days, starting 1 day before the MSFE procedure. An oral rinse with chloorhexidine-digluconate 0.12%, three times, 10 cm³ daily for 1 min for 2 weeks was prescribed, as part of the standard protocol for an MSFE procedure.