Effects of sinus lifting on voice quality. A prospective study and risk assessment

Abstracts on this page have been chosen and edited by Dr Trevor Watts

Abstract

Voice characteristics were not changed by sinus lifts in 4 patients who depended professionally on use of speech.

Main

Tepper G, Haas R et al. Clin Oral Impl Res 2003; 14: 767–774

Sinus lifting reduces the size of the maxillary sinus, and it is known that some sinus conditions may alter voice quality. This study was performed appropriately in Vienna, and involved 4 subjects who required bilateral sinus lifting to provide sufficient bone for implant-supported prostheses. Iliac crest autografts were placed under the sinus endothelium, and implants were placed 6 months later.

Radiological examination showed initial mean sinus volume to be 18.2 cm³, and the graft occupied a mean 16.5% of this. An experienced examiner (blind to sinus volumes) assessed subjects before and after surgery with respect to voice profiles in singing, speaking and shouting, performing a variety of subjective and objective tests.

Subjects did not notice any alteration in timbre or other voice characteristics. Voice parameters after surgery, and periodicity and spectral analyses, showed no significant changes. Slight variations were suspected in 2 subjects from objective data, but auditory perceptual evidence did not corroborate them.