This patient presents to my office for an implant on the top left.  As you can see from the xray below there is a missing tooth.  I have labelled the picture next to it to illustrate the different structures.  Because the tooth has been missing for a long time with this patient, the sinus (air space above the teeth) has come down.  This leaves me with less bone and space to place an implant.

The Treatment plan for the patient is as follows:

1. Surgically prepare a site for an implant.

2. At the same appointment, lift the floor of the sinus and pack space with bone graft material

3. Place the implant and let things heal for 6 months

The photo on the left is immediately after surgery.  Notice that there is a hazy white bubble above the implant.  This is the bone graft material.  Eventually this material will be replaced by bone and be gone.  The image on the right is after cementing he final crown.  You may have noticed a little white speckle on the xray, this is a little bit of cement left behind.  It was removed during this appointment with floss and scalers.