Dental work and Diving?

[mom2twinz99]

I am in the process of having some very involved dental work done, and have several great dives planned. My question is...does depth affect things like crowns, fillings, and what about temporary crowns or having had a tooth pulled? Right now I have just had a tooth pulled due to a bad root canal. The teeth on either side of the pulled one were ground down and had a temporary bridge put in place (basically two temp. crowns and a false tooth). Will the pressure at around 80' be great enough to cause any damage? I have to wait 5 more weeks to get fitted for a permanent bridge because he wanted my gums to have plenty of healing time to ensure proper fit of the bridge, and I have a trip planned to Florida before then. I hope this won't cause me any problems...

Thanks,
Amber

 

[justleesa]

Talk to your dentist...I'm going thru something like it at the moment and the doc said not to invest in a dive right now....I'm goin' back on Monday. I'll tell you what he says after he's done with step 1.

 

[DepartureDiver]

I'm no expert, but as long as the filling is done right you should have no problems. I remember in my Open Water class being warned of fillings and I asked my dentist about this (who is also a diver) and he said he never understood that comment. I am a deep tech diver and I have never had a single problem with a filling. As far as having a tooth pulled, as long as it is healed so you don't do something that might cause an infection, there should be no problem there since there would be no gas space that would get compressed. If you are concerned, you can always do a quick pool dive and see how you feel ... remember the greatest pressure changes occur in the first few feet. If you can do this and feel fine you should be able to dive to any depth. I don't hear any reasons you shouldn't enjoy your trip, but a real expert should probably chime in.

 

[Laurence Stein DDS]

I am in the process of having some very involved dental work done, and have several great dives planned. My question is...does depth affect things like crowns, fillings, and what about temporary crowns or having had a tooth pulled? Right now I have just had a tooth pulled due to a bad root canal. The teeth on either side of the pulled one were ground down and had a temporary bridge put in place (basically two temp. crowns and a false tooth). Will the pressure at around 80' be great enough to cause any damage? I have to wait 5 more weeks to get fitted for a permanent bridge because he wanted my gums to have plenty of healing time to ensure proper fit of the bridge, and I have a trip planned to Florida before then. I hope this won't cause me any problems...

Thanks,
Amber

Hi Amber,

There are several ways your dental work could affect your diving.

If you had a "simple" extraction (vs. surgical extraction), you should wait about a week to ten days before diving again. You must be off all precription pain medication...ie. narcotics. You must be able to hold the regulator comfortably. If you had a surgical extraction, then anywhere from two to six weeks may be appropriate. Check with your dentist.

Next problem...the temporary you are wearing is made of nothing but plastic. It is cemented with a relative weak cement that is formulated to allow for the temporary bridge's removal at the appropriate time.

Biting on the regulator could cause you to break the temporary or knock it loose. If this happens while you are diving, you are at risk for aspiration of the plastic. Aspiration of any foreign object is serious and under water it can be fatal.

There is also some evidence that most dental cements can be weaked by repeated hyperbaric cycles. I would take this to include temporary cement. Again, this increases the chance your temporary might come off.

If you were my patient I would recommend against diving prior to completion of the bridge. I don't believe the extraction site is the problem. The temporary bridge is and the possibility of aspiration.

Once your final dental work is in place you should have little if any problems because of diving. Again, even permanent cements cements may be affected by many, many dives but it is very rare.

Sorry! Hope this doesn't ruin your plans. :errrr:

Laurence Stein, DDS

:doctor: