Anyone experience with DAN hotline?

My wife recently had 3 wisdom teeth removed. It didn't go according to plan and got infected and dry socket. We are both members of DAN and thought we would ring them for advice as to when we could go diving again.

I have read numerous articles, letters, podcasts etc about how good the DAN line is for simple advice. So we rang them.

I have to say i was thoroughly disappointed with the result. For a start, the phone manner was less than professional. The lady explained there was no one around that could offer advice, but personally she "reckoned" no diving for at least 6 months. I thought this was really extreme. Then she said we could only get advice on a Monday in a window of 30mins during the working day. There was nothing else DAN could offer.

If it wasn't for the fact that most dive operators insist on DAN insurance i would be hesitant to renew and seek alternate insurance.

Has anyone else had any issues with DAN or is this just bad luck on my part and an isolated event?

Only ever heard good things about DAN and really hope this was a one off.

It has been a couple of years, but when I called I got immediate help.

When I have questions like this, I don't call the hotline. I go to their website and send in my question via email. I get a reply pretty quickly. The good thing about this approach is that your question gets routed to the best possible resource, rather than whoever answers the phone.

Was it the US DAN hotline you called?

I have used the DAN hotline for a diver who took a DCS hit and they were excellent. In fact the diver was not a member but I was so they were still very helpful.

As far as calling and asking for advice like that, these operators are trained in a very narrow spectrum of skills so I would not htink that they would be very helpful in that scenario. Now if you called DAN (not the hotline) and asked for the research department I am sure you would find someone eventually.

Greetings Andy_HTC and I am a little taken back. I hope there was a mistake because my experience with DAN was very different. In fact the diver I was assisting was not even a member yet. A week latter he was!
The assistance I received was very professional and spot on for the attending ER physician. It is the reason I will be a DAN member for life.
I am sorry for your experience and would encourage you to call DAN USA next time or at least contact DAN and report your experience. That is not acceptable and I appreciate your bringing it to my attention for future reference. If I am diving in your neck of the woods I am going to be prepared for it. Please make sure that you report this so steps can be taken. Please also contact DAN USA and they can advise you about your wives condition. Six months sounds like an eternity and I would be livid.
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!

Just to update how we got on.

My wife rang DAN back the time she was told to, still nobody available to answer our query. She was then told someone that could help would ring back the next day. It was 3 days later when DAN rang back and the girl said she couldn't offer any help and really only dealt with membership inquires. We were given an email address that subsequently didn't work.

In the end we emailed DAN Europe from their website. They told us to speak to our dentist as they couldn't offer any assistance. The dentist knows nothing about diving, but gave a ball park figure of 6 weeks.

Ringing USA is difficult due to the time zones. To be honest i am so annoyed i can't be bothered anymore. I'm going to research alternatives to DAN. At £106 per year membership i don't think it's worth it. Problem is most dive resorts need you to have DAN cover as standard.

Typical monopoly at work.

Hmm so are yall gonna do the 6 weeks plan? Im curious, because im getting all 4 wisdom teeth yanked in NOV I think and was wondering how long I'll be out...

I have never had to call DAN but I will offer a bit of information as someone who works for a dentist and has for 15 years. My dentist knows nothing about diving except what she has learned from me. To my knowledge we only have one other diver as a patient in the practice. So wouldn't do any good to ask her

When you get a dry socket after an extraction it is caused by a layer of the bone dying and sloughing off. It often times is a result of a more difficult extraction such as wisdom teeth. More common on the lower than the upper. The bone on your lower jaw is very dense and thick. It takes a tremendous amount of pressure to "rock" the tooth back and forth to get it to come out. The pressure actually separates the ridge of bone just a little bit. Imagine you are trying to remove a post from the ground. You would "rock" it back and forth until the ground around it separated. Basically how a non surgical extraction happens.

Once the tooth is out it takes appx a week to 10 days for the tissue to heal over the socket. But the bone takes months to heal completely. It starts at the base of the hole and fills in slowly. You will notice a depression in that area for probably 4-6 months.

I don't believe this will hinder diving. If it were me personally I would wait til the dry socket is healed completely (probably 3-4 weeks) and I would be back in the water. Take the first dive easy to make sure there is no discomfort.

This info is based on what I know from working for a dentist and in no way meant to imply I am a dentist. Just my two cents worth for you.

Their dental FAQ's had fairly specific information on this subject which I linked below. To highlight, 4-6 weeks without infection so with the infection going on the recomendation will obviously be longer than this time period but certainly less than the six month time-line offered by the GED diploma staffer you spoke with.:depressed: Lastly, the first paragraph in the answer section indicates DAN has oral surgeons for which they refer such specific questions.

As far as DAN's worth, please remeber the membership dues are also for supplemental insurance so you may wish to re-think discarding them due to this issue. Scott


DAN Divers Alert Network

A dentist may kill me for this - but my dry sockets did not heal until I started using hydrogen peroxide instead of the salt water. Using a syringe to 'blow out' the holes helped, too.

My dentist was more concerned with me flying -- none for two weeks. ???

This is only one person's experience and is not meant to be medical advice.