Introduction: Hydraulic procedures are reported to avoid any tearing forces on the sinus membrane. Hydrodynamic ultrasonic cavitational sinuslift (HUCSL) uses an ultrasonic oscillating water column to lift up the sinus membrane from the bone.

Methods: 60 half fresh sheep heads were investigated. The sinus membrane was ruptured by using a 1.2 mm pilot drill. Then, the Summers-Lift, the Balloon-Lift and the HUCSL were performed. The height of the sinus membrane was measured when the sinus membrane was not ripped completely by the elevation process.

Results: The Summers-Lift showed an average rupture length of 4.7 mm and the Balloon-Lift showed an average rupture length of 7.1 mm, while the Intralift-Technique showed an average rupture length of 1 mm. In 15 cases the initial puncture of 1 mm did not change its size, while in the other 5 cases a maximum size of 2 mm could be detected. The t -test showed that the Summers-Lift leads to a significant higher rupture length ( p = 0.05) than the Balloon-Technique. The comparison between Summers-Lift and Intralift showed a significant higher rupture length of the Summers-Lift ( p < 0.005). The same significance ( p < 0.005) was found when the Balloon-Technique was compared with the Intralift.

Conclusion: The conclusion of the current investigation is that the Intralift technique shows the best results of the 3 investigated methods and that it yielded the lowest risk of a growing rupture of the sinus membrane in case of an iatrogenic puncture during preparation of the transcrestal approach.

Conflict of interest: None declared.