Which types of bony changes in the maxillary sinus indicate chronic sinusitis?

Objectives

To determine which types of bone lesion (spicules, lobules, porous bone) in the maxillary sinus indicate sinusitis

Methods

Subadjacent dental disease is a cause of maxillary sinusitis; if a lesion type indicates sinusitis it should be more common above diseased posterior maxillary teeth than a lesion type that is not indicative of sinusitis. The study sample is a British Mediaeval human skeletal collection.

Results

Porous bone lesions (chiefly new bone deposits) in maxillary sinuses are associated with subadjacent dental disease; spicules/lobules of bone in the sinus are not.

Conclusions

The results support the idea that porous lesions indicate sinusitis but the spicules/lobules may not. Spicules, lobules and porous lesions within the maxillary sinus should be analysed separately in biocultural studies; it would be prudent to regard only the porous lesions as indicative of sinusitis.

Significance

Maxillary sinusitis is commonly used as a health indicator in palaeopathology, and spicular deposits are generally the most common type of alterations. By assuming that they are indicative of sinusitis we may have been greatly overestimating the prevalence of bony sinusitis in the past.

Limitations

These conclusions are provisional. Further work on larger, more diverse samples, together with more detailed anatomical studies on lesion location and structure is ongoing.