Diving & Wisdom Teeth

[scubakat]

Hi all!
I have a friend who is having her wisdom teeth out this summer, but I was also hoping that she could do some diving with me. Does anyone know how long you should wait to dive after having teeth extracted? I know you are not supposed to smoke or drink through a straw for several days & I imagine that the pressure changes that go with diving could affect healing too. Any thoughts?

thanks!
kate

 

[turnerjd]

Originally posted by scubakat
Hi all!
I have a friend who is having her wisdom teeth out this summer, but I was also hoping that she could do some diving with me. Does anyone know how long you should wait to dive after having teeth extracted? I know you are not supposed to smoke or drink through a straw for several days & I imagine that the pressure changes that go with diving could affect healing too. Any thoughts?

thanks!
kate

OK here is a Scientific Wild assed Guess.

If she can eat a packet of ready salted crisps (chips in US speak???? - the funny thin potato slices than come in funny packets) without any problem then she is probably OK.

Reason for this???? After teath out - eating crisps hurts like hell - you can't really eat them untill your gums have healed (they have all sorts of sharp edges as you munch them!). - salted? Because the salt stings even more!

No problems eating them - then her gums should be nicely healed and she should be OK for diving.

Please note this is only a scientific wild assed guess, and is a guideline at best. I'm a vaccinologist not a propper dive physician.

Jon T

 

[scubadoc]

Hi scubakat:

Here is an answer to this question that was written by one of Diving Medicine Online's dental consultants in Miami, Dr. Larry Stein:

" I am a dentist in Miami with a PADI Divemaster rating and dive nearly every weekend. I am Scubadoc's dental consultant and also provide information to Diver's Alert Network (DAN).

In answer to your question about how long must you wait to dive after wisdom tooth extractions, I will have to be somewhat vague. I must assume that your wisdom teeth are impacted or partially impacted--in other words trapped under the skin and/or bone. The more difficult the extractions the longer you may have to wait.

If an incision is made and the teeth "pop out" easily with no complications like dry sockets, I would say that you should wait 1 1/2 to two weeks or until the skin by the incisions look pretty much mended. On the other hand,
if you have horizontal impactions with the need for a lot of bone removal or you develop complications like a dry socket (the loss of the blood clot within the socket), you might be looking at as much as a month. Your oral surgeon would be the one to ask about the anticipated difficulty."

One other thing not mentioned by Dr. Stein is the ability to retain the regulator mouthpiece without pain or discomfort.

Diving, depth and pressures per se would not have any effect on the wounds, if healed properly.

 

[scubakat]

Thank you for your investigation & reply SucbaDoc! I love this board!

-kate