The 34-year-old centre broke his jaw for a second time in two months in South Africa’s 46-6 win over Samoa on Saturday and was ruled out of the rest of the tournament in England before announcing his retirement from test rugby after 107 caps.
He returned to a hero’s welcome at Cape Town airport from around 100 flag-waving boys from his former school plus a scrum of well-wishers and media.
It’s probably about 90 percent certain that I’ll have surgery but I have to see the dentist first because apparently my wisdom teeth are lying at a bit of an angle and that has created a weakness in the jaw structure," he told reporters.
"They are probably going to take out the wisdom teeth and put two plates in," De Villiers added.
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“Hopefully, it won’t be another five weeks of soup, maybe just a few days this time,” he said in a reference to the time he needed to get fit after breaking the left side of his jaw against Argentina in August.
De Villiers, who made a miraculous recovery to be ready for the World Cup only to befall the jinx that has haunted him at past tournaments, said he would be going back to England within a fortnight to join up with the squad.
“It was right to return to Cape Town because everything is much easier here. They have enough to deal with in the Springbok camp than to be bothered with an extra passenger needing treatment on an hourly basis.”
When De Villiers re-joins the squad, it will be to mentor South Africa’s three young centres.
It was always the plan to help youngsters in the squad. If you look at the make-up of the squad you’ll see senior players in positions where there are also youngsters and we share our knowledge with them,” he added.
(Reporting by Mark Gleeson; Editing by Ed Osmond)
