Hi everyone,
I’m a 29-year-old diver with six years of experience and over 100 dives under my belt. I was even starting my Divemaster course when all this began.
It all started last November, during a dive trip to the Maldives. After my second dive, I felt an excruciating pain in my upper left molars — it was unbearable, like having a needle violently pressed into my tooth.
I felt it as soon as I descended to about 4–5 meters, and it lasted the entire dive, getting even worse as I ascended.
I managed to keep going by taking ibuprofen every day, but every time I hit strong currents — especially in the passes — the pain would come back, even with the painkillers.
When I got back home, I had a dental scan and a full check-up, but the dentist said my teeth were perfectly fine.
So I went to my ENT specialist. He sent me for a CT scan, which showed chronic sinusitis on the left side (exactly where I felt the pain) along with a deviated septum and a bony spur obstructing the turbinates due to severe inflammation.
My ENT recommended thermal nasal washes during the winter and suggested I try diving again in May.
(For the record, I had the exact same pain on my return flight — during landing, it felt like my tooth was about to explode.)
In May, I tried again with a lake dive. I went down to 7 meters, swam a bit, then surfaced.
When I tried to descend again (I was practicing with a drysuit), I couldn’t get past 3 meters because the same stabbing tooth pain hit me again.
At that point, I changed dentist — and this second one confirmed that my teeth were 100% healthy.
So I went to see two maxillofacial surgeons, who both recommended surgery to remove the bony spur and clean the sinuses.
I honestly didn’t know where else to turn, so I decided to go ahead with the surgery.
I had the operation on June 18.
As of now, I haven’t tried diving again yet, but I’m flying to Morocco in a week, and I’m feeling pretty anxious and worried.
I just want to get back to enjoying my passion — diving — without this fear hanging over me every time I dive or fly.
Nobody at my dive center has ever experienced this kind of problem, so I’m reaching out here…
Has anyone gone through something like this?
How did you figure out what it was?
What did you do, and how did you solve it?
I’d be truly grateful for any advice or experiences you can share.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and for any help you can give me.
I’m a 29-year-old diver with six years of experience and over 100 dives under my belt. I was even starting my Divemaster course when all this began.
It all started last November, during a dive trip to the Maldives. After my second dive, I felt an excruciating pain in my upper left molars — it was unbearable, like having a needle violently pressed into my tooth.
I felt it as soon as I descended to about 4–5 meters, and it lasted the entire dive, getting even worse as I ascended.
I managed to keep going by taking ibuprofen every day, but every time I hit strong currents — especially in the passes — the pain would come back, even with the painkillers.
When I got back home, I had a dental scan and a full check-up, but the dentist said my teeth were perfectly fine.
So I went to my ENT specialist. He sent me for a CT scan, which showed chronic sinusitis on the left side (exactly where I felt the pain) along with a deviated septum and a bony spur obstructing the turbinates due to severe inflammation.
My ENT recommended thermal nasal washes during the winter and suggested I try diving again in May.
(For the record, I had the exact same pain on my return flight — during landing, it felt like my tooth was about to explode.)
In May, I tried again with a lake dive. I went down to 7 meters, swam a bit, then surfaced.
When I tried to descend again (I was practicing with a drysuit), I couldn’t get past 3 meters because the same stabbing tooth pain hit me again.
At that point, I changed dentist — and this second one confirmed that my teeth were 100% healthy.
So I went to see two maxillofacial surgeons, who both recommended surgery to remove the bony spur and clean the sinuses.
I honestly didn’t know where else to turn, so I decided to go ahead with the surgery.
I had the operation on June 18.
As of now, I haven’t tried diving again yet, but I’m flying to Morocco in a week, and I’m feeling pretty anxious and worried.
I just want to get back to enjoying my passion — diving — without this fear hanging over me every time I dive or fly.
Nobody at my dive center has ever experienced this kind of problem, so I’m reaching out here…
Has anyone gone through something like this?
How did you figure out what it was?
What did you do, and how did you solve it?
I’d be truly grateful for any advice or experiences you can share.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and for any help you can give me.
