Hatul
Contributor
I just had a tooth implant (upper incisor) and would like some recommendation as to when I can return to recreational diving.
Diving after tooth implant
- Thread starter Hatul
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There shouldn't be any restrictions. If it is an immediate load implant, relieve a space in your regulator so no excess lateral pressure is applied to the restored implant. The same force you are trying to prevent by wearing your night time mouth guard. Even after integration, implants need to be protected from lateral stress, you will lose horizontal bone levels quickly. Good luck with the implant, it will last to the end of days. Cheers
OP
Hatul
Contributor
Thanks Vincent. It's the type where a titanium insert was implanted into the bone and I have to wait 3 months for it to integrate into the bone. I read on the internet different recommendations. For example this one
Scuba Diving and Dental Implants
recommends waiting 5-8 weeks before diving?
I forgot the most important thing, follow the advice of the surgeon who placed it. They know how the procedure went and can best direct you. For some reason I left it out that in my first response,
In general,. if it is covered, it will integrate just fine. It is not different from normal bone healing. Keep things from irritating the site and you'll be fine. Implants fail because of things like smoking, bad surgical and restorative technique, poor systemic health, poor oral hygiene ,and over stressing the implant/implant site.. Nothing I have read in the literature would contradict a recreation depth dive. Bone healing is the same whether it is an implant, endodontic, or extraction healing. I wouldn't dive the day after surgery, but when the sutures over the implants are gone you should be good to go. If no sutures are used, and an exposed healing abutment is used, wait until the soreness goes away. Shouldn't be more than a week.
Bone grafts would be a different situation. No one can predict how they will heal, and I would wait at least a month. You'll be told if any grafting was required or done(I hope)
If in doubt, contact the library at ADA.org. They will have every research article published on implants, and the person answering the phone will get the pertinent journal article for you. They are extremely helpful.
To be honest, implants are some of the most trouble free and predictable procedures in dentistry if done properly. They either integrate or don't. When they uncover your implant and reverse torque it, it will either be restored if it is a success, or removed and replaced if the implant hasn't integrated properly and fails the torque test. The hardest part about an incisor implant is matching the porcelain shade.
The article referenced, although 8 years old, has good information. Not much has changed, other than that the Oral Surgeons are more confident with the success of immediate load implants in the right situations. I still prefer the surgeons leave a healing abutment, only because there is more control in keeping the implant area stress free while it integrates.. At 3-5 grand a tooth, I want the implant to be perfect. Makes everyone happy.
Go diving, and have fun. I don't know about the 5-8 week no dive rule came from. It may just be a conservative answer to a question that can't be answered definitively. Cheers
In general,. if it is covered, it will integrate just fine. It is not different from normal bone healing. Keep things from irritating the site and you'll be fine. Implants fail because of things like smoking, bad surgical and restorative technique, poor systemic health, poor oral hygiene ,and over stressing the implant/implant site.. Nothing I have read in the literature would contradict a recreation depth dive. Bone healing is the same whether it is an implant, endodontic, or extraction healing. I wouldn't dive the day after surgery, but when the sutures over the implants are gone you should be good to go. If no sutures are used, and an exposed healing abutment is used, wait until the soreness goes away. Shouldn't be more than a week.
Bone grafts would be a different situation. No one can predict how they will heal, and I would wait at least a month. You'll be told if any grafting was required or done(I hope)
If in doubt, contact the library at ADA.org. They will have every research article published on implants, and the person answering the phone will get the pertinent journal article for you. They are extremely helpful.
To be honest, implants are some of the most trouble free and predictable procedures in dentistry if done properly. They either integrate or don't. When they uncover your implant and reverse torque it, it will either be restored if it is a success, or removed and replaced if the implant hasn't integrated properly and fails the torque test. The hardest part about an incisor implant is matching the porcelain shade.
The article referenced, although 8 years old, has good information. Not much has changed, other than that the Oral Surgeons are more confident with the success of immediate load implants in the right situations. I still prefer the surgeons leave a healing abutment, only because there is more control in keeping the implant area stress free while it integrates.. At 3-5 grand a tooth, I want the implant to be perfect. Makes everyone happy.
Go diving, and have fun. I don't know about the 5-8 week no dive rule came from. It may just be a conservative answer to a question that can't be answered definitively. Cheers
Last edited:
Have you checked DAN's website in Scuba Diving Medical FAQ? Dental Implants and Scuba Diving, Medical FAQ ? DAN | Divers Alert Network
Hope you have a speedy recovery.
Hope you have a speedy recovery.
Laurence Stein DDS
Medical Moderator
Hatul,
Vincent has given you some good advice. The article you quoted is indeed somewhat out of date... I wrote it. Earlier implants had a space in one end to allow the accumulation of bone debris. It had the potential to be a "dead space". Newer implant designs do not have this space. Back then, we simply didn't know if that space had potential to trap gas.
I would add an additional comment. If you are wearing a removable device, i.e., a "flipper" denture or a single tooth partial denture, I would not advise wearing it while diving. 1) The tooth in the denture will put pressure over the implant site and 2) Small removable devices might be aspirated during a dive. Initially, (first 3-4 weeks) the implant actually gets looser then it begins to integrate to the bone. The implant is the most vulnerable during this initial phase of healing. Care must be taken not to allow any force to be applied over the surgical site. If you dive without the device then you can go back to diving within about 2 weeks. You must be off meds and your surgeon must clear you. Just make sure the regulator makes no contact with the surgery site.
Laurence Stein, DDS
Vincent has given you some good advice. The article you quoted is indeed somewhat out of date... I wrote it. Earlier implants had a space in one end to allow the accumulation of bone debris. It had the potential to be a "dead space". Newer implant designs do not have this space. Back then, we simply didn't know if that space had potential to trap gas.
I would add an additional comment. If you are wearing a removable device, i.e., a "flipper" denture or a single tooth partial denture, I would not advise wearing it while diving. 1) The tooth in the denture will put pressure over the implant site and 2) Small removable devices might be aspirated during a dive. Initially, (first 3-4 weeks) the implant actually gets looser then it begins to integrate to the bone. The implant is the most vulnerable during this initial phase of healing. Care must be taken not to allow any force to be applied over the surgical site. If you dive without the device then you can go back to diving within about 2 weeks. You must be off meds and your surgeon must clear you. Just make sure the regulator makes no contact with the surgery site.
Laurence Stein, DDS
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