Squealing tooth

[UserNameBella]

Hi everyone!

I have a new weird development. My tooth aches a bit on descent (its a lower molar, either the one with a filling or the one with a ceramic in-lay not quite sure) But stops when I equalize my ears or slow my descent.

Heres the weird part. It squeals during my ascent. It's not painful, just a little uncomfortable before the squeal. Its literally loud enough that my permanent buddy/husband can even hear it.

I know there are tooth squeezes, but I know very little about them.

My question is, can I continue to dive like this? I am on a little island and I don't trust strange dentists.

 

[knotical]

Sounds like you have a crack in a tooth leading to an air pocket in or behind the tooth. Solely from a physics perspective, you should be able to continue diving as long as the air passage to the pocket remains unobstructed. Whether it’s wise or not …

disclaimer: I have absolutely zero credentials as a dental professional.

anecdotally, I dived with a lady several years ago who had a similar situation. Her tooth popped during ascent and broke into a couple of pieces.

 

[Bob DBF]

I'm not a dentist, but have spent a lot of time in the chair.

Get it fixed.
The same pressure that squeaks out is also driving any decay, germs and whatever back towards the jaw as well. Needless to say you don't need that.



Bob
--------------------------------
Sometimes paranoia's just having all the facts.
William S. Burroughs

 

[underH2Oman]

I agree with Bob Get it fixed
If it is a filling allowing air to get under and the squealing is it coming out you are fortunate. If the air gets trapped under a filling at depth and can not exit freely it will be very VERY painful. I have seen this happen only once and the diver was very happy when the pressure finally ejected the filling from the tooth.

 

[HJeffreyM]

I have also experienced tooth pain on ascent. This happened a number of years ago and, after reporting it to my dentist, a cavity was filled and there was no problem thereafter. Recently, this article on barodontalgia, a barotrauma-like tooth problem, appeared in Alert Diver Magazine. Alert Diver is published by DAN. You may find the article pertinent.

http://www.alertdiver.com/Tooth-pain-scuba-diving-dental-work

 

[UserNameBella]

Awesome. Thanks all

 

[tsuyoshi]

I have about 10 yrs of private dental practice at this point. Sounds like everyone already gave very reasonable advice. That loud of squeal is a bit of problem with that tooth. But u didn't say it hurt? That's great but dont push ur luck, tooth structure is quite rigid that much pressure can be detrimental to it.

At least have it checked if u Dont trust 'them' to help u decide what u want done.

 

[UserNameBella]

The problem is, I am in Utila specifically to dive for the next month and i need to find a dentist that can do the work. Hopefully I can.

 

[vincent54]

You equalize your ears and your mandibular molar feels better? I suspect it's a maxillary molar with sinus squeeze, and the squeal is from an airspace not in a tooth. I think the pain could be referred. Unless you have one HUGE airspace under the filling, in which case I'm wrong Ask the expats who they use as a dentist, usually a good one can be found.

My biggest concerns are that they use disposables or the instruments havebeen through a tested autoclave, and yes you'll find one. Good luck.

 

[UserNameBella]

Well I went to the dentist here. She was nice. She found a huge cavity that was a closed cavity, in other words the rot was under the enamel except in once spot. Good news is it cost 35 dollars to fill. The bad news is it was so close to the root that I'm in worse pain than before. Seeing as how I want to keep diving and I don't want a root canal in a strange country I'll deal with it until I get home in two months. It may have been a sinus squeeze. Either way the tooth might have blown up at any time if it didn't get something done. I still might just get it pulled. Dental implants are cheap in the DR where I spend a lot of my time and better than a crown. Tomorrow I'm doing a dive so lets just hope there is no further issues. She said I could dive tomorrow, but I still might check it out on DAN website.