wisdom teeth extraction - how long off the bike?

[mellic]

I am having surgery this Friday to have my compacted wisdom teeth removed. My surgeon says that I should really stay off my bike for at least a week :( . Has anyone had this surgery done and how long did you stay off the bike for??

[KnottedYet]

Absolutely stay off the bike! I had mine taken out when my only transportation was the bus and my bike (or my housemates who had cars). I had bad problems with balance, which I didn't even realize were there until I tried to ride to the store.

Don't do what I did!

Inflammation in the jawbone and tissues and strain to the jaw joint (from having your mouth pried open) will definitely mess with your inner ear.

Take the bus, or get someone to drive you around for the week. It's not worth the risk!

And be very careful when you do start riding again.

[Starfish]

I am having surgery this Friday to have my compacted wisdom teeth removed. My surgeon says that I should really stay off my bike for at least a week :( . Has anyone had this surgery done and how long did you stay off the bike for??

I wasn't a bike rider when I had this done (quite a few years ago...surgery techniques might have changed), but I did need real recovery, as from a surgery: ice-packs, meds, several days lying around, etc. Not to say the experience was bad, or anything, in fact I healed up well. But, it was a surgery and did require a number of days for swelling to go down and for me to want to be up and around, let alone working out. Best wishes and happy healing!

[Popoki_Nui]

My roommate is an OR/surgical assistant to an oral surgeon, so I asked her about this.....
For poodling around the block, 48-72 hours after surgery should be ok assuming you have no bleeding, infection or other complications. For serious riding and/or commuting, wait a week to ten days, again assuming no complications.

~Sherry.

[DirtDiva]

I reckon what Sherry/Sherry's flatmate says is bang on.

When I had mine out (all four at once, no complications) I was, unsurprisingly, pretty woozy the day of, then fine for the next four days because I got prescribed great anti-inflamatories (Valdecoxib/Bextra, which was withdrawn from the market the following month due to the whole questionable saftey of long-term Cox-2 inhibitor use thing). The day after the good drugs ran out was awful. Codiene wasn't helping. Marginally better the following day, as I'd had my stitches out and gone and bought some over-the-counter anti-inflamatories. I was down to ordinary panadol (tylenol) after about eight days. Probably took about ten or twelve days before I was completely pain free, which is just as well - I flew direct from NZ to the UK eleven days after surgery. Probably about four weeks for the holes left behind in my lower jaw to heal up enough for me to put my paranoia about them getting infected behind me.

[AussieEm]

I got all four of mine out on a Wed, and raced the next Saturday. I do not advocate this!!! Apart from not being able to fuel my body properly (and thus racing like crap), the blood-pumping effort dislodged the clots, and set my recovery back another week (and don't ask how I stoped the bleeding :p )

Good luck! :)

[Geonz]

Wow... I'm so glad I only had three wisdom teeth and they were kind of puny, if impacted, so I could get 'em out in two shifts, on Novacaine. (The doc said to take the Tylenol 3 when the Novacaine started wearing off, but I never noticed it wearing off so I didn't bother, and I liked having T3 around). I *did* take a lot of naps, though, and take it easy for the next day or two.

[mellic]

Thank you all for your advice. Looks like I will have to go lock my bikes away from myself otherwise knowing me I will end up doing something crazy like AussieEm. I am so thankful that this procedure will be occurring 2 weeks before my next race, so I should be right to go for it.

[daviesmith]

I got my wisdom teeth out last year. I'm a vegetarian, and when my Orthodontist (https://plus.google.com/+Cronauerangelakisortho/about) learned that, he asked whether I wanted the synthetic or cat gut. I opted for the synthetic. One thing you should know is that they take much longer to dissolve. A few of mine didn't, and I had to go back twice - at the 1st follow-up, he wanted to give the incisions a bit more time to heal and the sutures to dissolve - and have some snipped and pulled out because they weren't dissolving quickly enough on their own. Pain in the mouth, and healing did take longer because of it, but I'd still make the same decision.