A study of the maxillary sinus lateral wall thickness using cone-beam CT

To investigate the relationship between the thickness of the lateral wall of the maxillary sinus and patient age and sex at different tooth sites to provide a reference for sinus floor elevations.

Cone-beam CT (CBCT)imaging data were collected from 222 patients admitted to the Department of Stomatology, the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, from March 2020 to October 2020. The thicknesses of the maxillary sinus lateral wall of the first premolar, second premolar, first molar and second molar were observed and measured on the coronal plane of CBCT images, and the relationship between the maxillary sinus lateral wall thickness and patient sex was analyzed. The patients were divided into the following groups according to their age: ①the young group (18~29 years old),②the middle-aged group (30~59 years old), and ③the elderly group (≥ 60 years old). The difference in the maxillary sinus lateral wall thickness was compared among these three age groups.

The mean thicknesses of the maxillary sinus lateral wall at the first premolar, second premolar, first molar and second molar were (1.61 ± 0.58) mm,(1.68 ± 0.66) mm, (2.00 ± 0.76) mm and (1.71 ± 0.71) mm, respectively. The maximum thickness of the lateral wall was located at the first molar (P < 0.05). The thickness of the maxillary sinus lateral wall in the young group was significantly thicker than that in the middle-aged group and the elderly group at the first premolar and first molar (P < 0.05). The thickness of the maxillary sinus lateral wall in males was significantly thicker than that in females at the second molar [(1.78 ± 0.80) mm vs. (1.63 ± 0.62) mm, P＝0.029].

The mean thickness of the lateral wall changes at different reference points. The maxillary sinus lateral wall is the thickest at M1. The thickness of the maxillary sinus lateral wall decreased with age, and the thickness of the lateral wall was higher in males than in females.