Recovery form tooth removal and bone graft and playing my horn

[JohntheTheologian]

I just learned from my dentist yesterday that I have a tooth under a crown that is decaying and will need to be removed and then have a bone graft-- actually they will put some sort of scaffolding in so that new bone can grow-- with the eventual placement of a dental implant. The tooth is on the side of my upper teeth. The actual implant won't go in until early 2025 so that it can grow back enough bone to support the implant.

I asked my dentist about how long I would need to lay off practicing to let it heal and he said that no one had ever asked him that question. He thought at least a month or so, but he admitted he was just guessing. His main concern is so that the bone graft won't be disrupted.

Does anyone have any experience with this? A web search turns up almost nothing.

My surgery is on March 18 and I was hoping i might be able to start practicing by early May to get chops back in some sort of reasonable shape by the end of May for community band season.

Any experience or advice would be very much appreciated.

[Doug Elliott]

Is this being done by your dentist, or an oral surgeon?

[JohntheTheologian]

By my dentist, who's done a fair number of these procedures.

[Doug Elliott]

I guess there are different kinds of bone grafts, but the normal concern after an extraction is to not blow air into the socket, so it can close up and heal. The usual recommendation is to wait a week.
I've had 3 extractions, one with a bone graft, and ended up not doing any implants.

All of them have been done by oral surgeons, not my regular dentist.

[EZSlider]

I held off a few days to a week after both my implants, one with graft.. Second on the oral surgeon.. Not sure I would trust an engine swap in my Ferrari to the guy who changes my oil..
EZ

[BurckhardtS]

A month is probably a conservative estimate, but it really will depend on how long it takes to recover. I just had 3 of my wisdom teeth removed (already had one removed way earlier) by an oral surgeon on Jan 2nd and I was told 14 days. It took about 5 days for the stitches to fall out and a week for the clots to settle in. The primary concern is the intraoral pressure from playing dislodging the blood clots which is why you are not allowed to use straws or smoke. I was playing by Jan 16.

However, we considered that I am only 27 years old and recover much faster hypothetically than someone who is in their 40s or 50s. That's actually the reason I had the surgery now, they weren't causing any immediate problems but they were impacted enough that they COULD cause problems later in life.

[ghmerrill]

My process was this (by an oral surgeon who was great):

1. Pull problematic tooth that we couldn't fully diagnosis now matter what was done (including CT scans). It turned out to be a crack in one of the roots just not visible on any of the imaging. He pulled the tooth and we were both looking at it wonder what the problem was ... when the bottom of the root just fell off in his hand.
2. Wait for that to heal.
3. After about 6 months, check that there was enough bone for implant (there was -- no graft needed).
4. Do the implant and let that heal (another 6 months?). Check everything again.
5. Final prep for the dentist to make the crown.
6. Go to dentist to have crown made and installed.

The total amount of time was well over a year -- largely because of the healing times for each invasive procedure.

In terms of playing, aside from some minor initial healing time for each of those invasive procedures, I was able to play as much as I liked. As I recall, the laying off periods only amounted to 2-3 weeks each. The major one was from pulling the tooth.

[tbdana]

I guess there are different kinds of bone grafts, but the normal concern after an extraction is to not blow air into the socket, so it can close up and heal. The usual recommendation is to wait a week.

Yeah, this was my experience, too. When the skin over the socket is healed, you can play.

[JohntheTheologian]

Thanks for the replies-- very helpful,

BTW, my dentist has done many extractions and implants and I have complete confidence in him. He said that many general dentists don't like to do them and refer to oral surgeons, but he's made it a sort of sub-speciality.

[Kbiggs]

I've a few teeth pulled and two root canals, but no grafts. Like everyone above said, wait to play until it's healed over. Try playing at about one week. If, while playing, you feel pressure on the extraction/surgery site, that's probably okay. If you feel tenderness while playing, then wait a few more days. If there's pain, stop and call your dentist.

[pompatus]

Email sent. Re: dental bone grafts and tromboning