"Permanent dental crown's & diving"

[Garfish]

Hello fellow divers:

I'm going to my local dentist for him to fit me for a crown on one of my lower back teeth. The restoration of the tooth is for the fitting of the crown itself. The tooth is in good shape so i my say their no root canal involved. Just a brake down of one side of the tooth structure.

My question is with permanent crown's and diving, will one experience any problems during deep diving such as air entrapment under the crown or other related problems associated with pain.

I seen a post where Bob 3 said he had problems with temporary crown's coming loose.

Has anybody have any problems with permanent crowns during diving?

Thanks much:

Sam

 

[DocVikingo]

In short, a properly fitted permanent crown on a solid, healthy tooth should cause you no problems while diving.

I'm asking our diving dentist, Dr. Larrry Stein, for his opinion as well.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

 

[g8trdiver]

My husband has several crowns, - just had a new one put in, and has not had any problems. He has commented several times that he really thought the dentist did a good job (not sure how you'd tell...).

 

[scubasean]

DocVikingo once bubbled...
In short, a properly fitted permanent crown on a solid, healthy tooth should cause you no problems while diving.

yep....I have a crown and have no issues so far down to 100 feet.

Sean

 

[brizzolatti]

I've had a crown for many years. Have never had any problems. Also had an infection above it and had to have a minor op to remove things. That healed fine, too, and no subsequent problems.

 

[FredT]

g8trdiver once bubbled...
He has commented several times that he really thought the dentist did a good job (not sure how you'd tell...).

Take it down past 60' for a while, then come up. If he did a bad job you'll KNOW! Bad dental work is QUITE painful as compressed air is trapped against a nerve. I have had several crowns for decades and have never had a problem with them and pressure. I can't say the same for amalgam fillings. I've rarely been as happy as when a molar with a bad amalgum filling split during an ascent from a deep dive and released the air pressure trapped against the nerve.

When choosing a dentist get one that dives, or an old Air Force or Navy sub base dentist. Hyperbaric and hypobaric dentistry are quite similar, and both are a lot less forgiving of minor technical errors than surface work.

FT

 

[Garfish]

Hello again:

Thanks all for the replys.. Gee i got so much metal in my mouth that i could hear the BBC in my ears like the old fashion crystal radio sets of long ago. lol

Seriously, I did break part of a tooth off and the dentist gave me 2 options , 1. build the phil back up or to crown it. I quess i really did not even think then that maybe in diving that the pressure effect might be their. It's great to have people like Doc and others around on this brillant medium called "scuba board" for advice.

I quess i'am going to have it done because the dentist said that if filled probably break off and make the tooth even worse.

This is for Doc Vikingo a big thanks for his reply & Doc if you hear anything else like from Doc Stein, it would be most appreciated.

Again thanks all:

Sam.

 

[Laurence Stein DDS]

Hi Garfish,

If your crown is properly done, there should be no problems.

While air trapped within a tooth next to a filling or under a crown has been blamed for barodontalgia, it has been my experience that in nearly all cases of barodontalgia, there is actually something wrong with the nerve within the offending tooth. It could be a nerve slowly dying under an old filling, a fractured tooth leading to bacteria entering the nerve, deep decay killing the nerve, a poorly completed root canal with gases accumulating within an untreated section of the root canal.

Doing a crown and cementing it without entrapped is a no brainer.

Of more concern are old silver fillings. They are frequently associated with undetected fractures within the tooth. As these fillings age, they continue to expand and can actually break the tooth. Placing a new filling in an old filling position may, in fact be covering up an undetectable fracture. This then becomes sympomatic after the new filling is done.

A good rule of thumb is to place a crown or onlay in any tooth that has had about 1/3-1/2 of the total chewing surface (as measured between the cusps). In this way, there is less chance that poorly supported enamel cusps are left to hold fillings in. Bonding a filling into an already fractured tooth (even if the fracture cannot be found) will fail. Bonding a heavily filled tooth really isn't such a great idea either. The forces you apply to the tooth can easily overpower any bonding system to date.

A crown is a better way to fix a heavily filled tooth.

Hope this helps. Don't sweat the crown. Millions of people dive with crowns and have no problems.

Regards,

Laurence Stein, DDS


:doctor:

 

[Frank O]

Laurence Stein DDS once bubbled...
Don't sweat the crown. Millions of people dive with crowns and have no problems.

Yes, as a matter of fact I have a mouthful (which is to say, 28 crowns -- the full movie-star treatment). No problems whatsoever in three years of scuba and freediving.

 

[ScubaJorgen]

I've got two crowns. No problemo

80% of my teeth consists of filling. No problemo

When I catch a cold, then my teeth ache..... above water