Dental surgery and scuba diving

[ange2014]

Hello there,

I have a question: is it safe to go scuba diving just after a wisdom tooth extraction and/or a tooth implant? Or Or is this not even a cause for concern (in which case, pardon my ignorance)?

Thank you in advance for advising.

 

[Pedro Burrito]

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[Searcaigh]

Personally I'd check with the dentist first.

The cavity from the extraction should heal fairly quickly but I'd tend to trust your tongue on that. If the gum has healed and you can't taste blood anymore then it should be okay.

I have one tooth implant and I was diving without any issues a few days after the initial surgery was done.

 

[loosenit2]

I’m not a dentist or a doctor but i have had wisdom teeth extracted and had a crown put on and talked to my dentist about it.

I would not choose to dive for at least several days to a couple of weeks after a wisdom tooth extraction. In my mind the issue was pain. I found my mouth was sore for several days, based on that soreness I would not want to have to bite a mouthpiece for extended periods. That is a matter of personal choice, if your extraction caused less soreness it is probably ok.

When I had crown put in I asked dentist about diving, my concern was the potential for air pockets in the dental work. He assured me with the crown, both temp and permanent that it would not be a problem. I would still have a conversation with your dentist about your specific procedure.

 

[almostDIR]

bleeding would be the most potential problem with tooth removals I believe as well as the fact that the gum may be sore and keeping the reg in mouth thus being more difficult or at least a bit painful.
it would take much longer to heal if you needed stitches compared to simple removal. Don't have any experience with implants but I personally waited a week or two after a wisdom tooth removal before diving again depending on how quickly it started to heal and whether having stitches or not

 

[ibj40]

Hello there,

I have a question: is it safe to go scuba diving just after a wisdom tooth extraction and/or a tooth implant? Or Or is this not even a cause for concern (in which case, pardon my ignorance)?

Thank you in advance for advising.

I went through a process over about a two year period where I had two teeth extracted, donor bone implanted to strengthen the jaw bone, implants installed, and then eventually crowns over the implants.

We plan a dive trip about every six months, so what I did was make sure that I was well past the end of a healing period before each dive trip, and then scheduled the next procedure as soon after we got back as I could, in order to extend the healing period prior to the next dive trip.

As noted above, and consistent with what I did, my oral surgeon and dentist knew what my plans were, and were very sensitive (no pun intended) to my situation.

 

[MargaritaMike]

Talk about timeliness. I was having the same thoughts a couple of days ago. I am having a permanent bridge put in at the April and was concerned that there may be air pockets which would manifest themselves while diving. My plan was to dive and find out. The extraction has healed and the dentist wants to wait another couple of weeks to make sure. I'll let you know in July if I had a problem.

Cheers -