Kelly Ripa disappeared from her morning show to recover from surgery she had avoided for five years – and now she’s revealed the surprising habit that caused the damage, and forced her silence for 10 days.
Viewers of Live with Kelly and Mark have been missing its longtime host since late July, when her husband and co-host, Mark Consuelos, revealed that Ripa, 55, was recovering from gum graft surgery.
What is gum graft surgery?
According to the Cleveland Clinic, “gum graft surgery is a dental procedure for treating thinning gums or gum recession. Gum grafting covers exposed teeth roots and adds volume to your gum line, improving overall oral health.”
Gum grafting replaces lost tissue around the affected teeth, with recovery typically taking between one and two weeks.
For Ripa, however, getting to the operating chair had already taken considerably longer.
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Delayed surgery five years
During a pre-recorded episode of her Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast with guest comedian Michelle Buteau, Ripa admitted that doctors had recommended the procedure years earlier.
“Before you praise me, I was supposed to do it five years ago,” she said on the podcast that aired Aug. 12.
Ripa continued putting it off until, she said, her doctor eventually warned that she no longer had “the luxury of time.”
Silence for 10 days
Once she finally went through with the procedure, there was another problem waiting for one of daytime television’s most recognizable voices.
Ripa wasn’t allowed to talk for 10 days.
“They take the skin off of the roof of your mouth and they put it [over your gums],” she explained of the surgery.
Even before undergoing it, Ripa was able to joke about what awaited her, declaring that “death creeps in through the gums.”
Then came the prospect of remaining silent.
“Do I ever need to be heard again? I don’t think so!” she joked on the pre-recorded podcast.
‘She’s not allowed to talk’
When Ripa was noticeably absent from Live on July 27, Consuelos gave viewers an update on his wife’s recovery.
She was “doing great,” he said, but there was one doctor’s order that might have been particularly difficult for the famously talkative host.
“She’s not allowed to talk,” Consuelos told his guest co-host Kevin Jonas, who immediately saw the problem.
“That’s got to be the hardest thing she’s ever done,” Jonas joked.
