Diving after wisdom tooth extraction

[GetNarc'd]

My oral surgeon said to wait a couple weeks before I dive, but didn't seem familiar to the Scuba diving question. I know that it would be unintelligent to ignore his recommendation, but I'm curious to know exactly how unintelligent it would be. What will the pressure differential cause on the wounded area?

 

[deeper thoughts]

I remember Doc Vikingo talked about this on rodales forum, so a search on that forum should help

 

[GetNarc'd]

Which forum is that? Link?

 

[prittykitty]

When I had my wisdom teeth taken out about a 6 months ago, my oral surgeon (who also happened to be a diver) told me to wait 2 weeks before diving. I hit the water after about 2.5 weeks, and everything went fine. Most importantly, you should not dive again until you feel ready and comfortable.

 

[deeper thoughts]

www.scubadiving.com

 

[amascuba]

Here is what my doctor told me about my wisdom teeth when I had them pulled out about 5 years ago, or what I remember anyways.

The holes left in your mouth lead directly to your sinuses and the only thing filling those hole until the wounds heal are blood clots. He said if you accidently sucked a blood clot out, such as smoking or sucking liquid through straw could do, then saliva would get into your sinuses and have a chemical reaction with the bones, effectively corroding the bone. He said it was very painful. I have also talked to a person who told me it happened to him and it was one of the most painful experiences he had delt with.

Here is what we know about diving:

You have to clear your ears to avoid ear squeeze as you descend.

If you have to have clear sinuses so that you don't have a sinus squeeze.

My thinking would be that it would be difficult to clear your ears with out pushing the blood clots out of your tooth socket, which could lead to a painful and unnecessary experience as I believe that your eustation tubes and sinues are connected. (I could be wrong there though)

 

[GetNarc'd]

Here is what my doctor told me about my wisdom teeth when I had them pulled out about 5 years ago, or what I remember anyways.

The holes left in your mouth lead directly to your sinuses and the only thing filling those hole until the wounds heal are blood clots. He said if you accidently sucked a blood clot out, such as smoking or sucking liquid through straw could do, then saliva would get into your sinuses and have a chemical reaction with the bones, effectively corroding the bone. He said it was very painful. I have also talked to a person who told me it happened to him and it was one of the most painful experiences he had delt with.

Here is what we know about diving:

You have to clear your ears to avoid ear squeeze as you descend.

If you have to have clear sinuses so that you don't have a sinus squeeze.

My thinking would be that it would be difficult to clear your ears with out pushing the blood clots out of your tooth socket, which could lead to a painful and unnecessary experience as I believe that your eustation tubes and sinues are connected. (I could be wrong there though)

WOW! A+ response Thank You!

 

[Wayfarer2]

Here is my non diving wisdom tooth extraction story.
I had all 4 out with no problems, the doc said take it easy for 5-7 days and don’t do any strenuous exercise. So two days after, I feel great and go out in the yard and start digging holes for the foundation to a new patio I was installing. My increased blood pressure and pulse caused a weakened blood vessel next to my jaw to rupture and caused my face to swell badly, I looked like the kid from the movie mask! Most of the swelling was fluid not blood but it took over a week to go down, be careful about too much exercise too soon.

 

[spacemanspiff1974]

I had three dry sockets when I had my wisdom teeth removed. That was a lot of fun.

Here is my thought. It is all pounded into our heads that the air you breathe expands as you ascend. What happens if some air gets in your sockets behind your blood clot? It seems to me that you could shoot the blood clot out of your wound. Ouch!!!!

 

[GetNarc'd]

I had three dry sockets when I had my wisdom teeth removed. That was a lot of fun.

Here is my thought. It is all pounded into our heads that the air you breathe expands as you ascend. What happens if some air gets in your sockets behind your blood clot? It seems to me that you could shoot the blood clot out of your wound. Ouch!!!!

That theory makes sense, but what made me wonder was him saying that two weeks was long enough to wait before diving. That means that I have enough healed gum covering the tooth area in order to prevent a rupture??

-chris