Older Dental Crowns and Diving

[GreatGonzo]

Evening all, (over here anyway)

I an jetting over to Egypt to do my Open Water in about 6 weeks and I have just been reading about diving with crowns (all seems ok as long as there is no air inside and the dentist did a good job etc)

However what I am a little wary of is that my crowns (two front upper inssisors) where done some time ago (19-20 years ago!), in that time I have never lost one or had the slightest bit of trouble with them (infact I actually forgot I had them untill I stumbled across a bit about diving with crowns on the web)

Anyway, What I was wondering is if I should get my Dentist to check them out pre-trip due to their age and if so what questions should I be asking him?

LC.

 

[Saturation]

I will defer to our diving dentist Larry, but generally a good crown should not be a problem since it must be airtight to prevent food particles from entering and rotting the tooth stub away, leading to terrible dental problems later on.

 

[The Kraken]

I've had my crowns for 36 years and have never had any problems with them. Flying or diving.

the K

 

[Laurence Stein DDS]

Go ahead...do the dive. If the crown is good, it will most likely stay on. If it is problematic, then the dive might actually be a blessing in disguise.

30 year old crowns were generally cemented with zinc phosphate cement. It is rather strong and holds up fairly well. With time there can be some wash-out at the crown margins. If bacteria can gain a foot hold in the washed out area they might cause a cavity under the crown, weakening the tooth and allowing the crown to come off.

There is one study I am aware of that compared several types of dental cements to hyperbaric pressures and multiple dives. There was a statistically significant reduction of cement strength in that study. I don't believe it has actually appeared in the real world however.

BTW, most of the times you hear about an exploding tooth it is either the porcelain cover that pops off due to trapped air within the porcelain producing a weak spot. The other situation is a tooth that has a root canal and a crown. When there is an underlying fracture within the tooth, it is possible for air to get into the tooth, get trapped and then split the tooth.

This is so rare that most dentists have never seen this type of dive problem.

Go out and have a great dive.

Laurence Stein, DDS

 

[GreatGonzo]

Cheers dude

All I have to worry about now is being kidnapped by the citizens of the lost city of atlantis