Tooth Pain Question

[Fly Girl]

Please confirm that I was not a total baby for canceling the rest of my dive weekend. Yesterday, I was at Lake Rawlings working on my AOW. I was supposed to have two days with three dives each day. I wasn't feeling very good when I started, I was a little stuffy and still run down overall from pneumonia last month, but I was happy to get in the water. I was just fine until I got down to about 20 feet. At that point, I had horrible pain in my molars on the right side and some pain behind my right eye. I would go up a bit to 15 ft and feel just fine, but the couple of times I would go to 20 ft, the terrible tooth pain would begin. I had no trouble clearing my ears, but obviously, something was wrong in my sinus that I would have such bad teeth and eye pain. I told my instructor to surface. Once we surfaced, the pain subsided, but there was still a bit of throbbing. It scared me, as well as I just didn't feel right, so I told my instructor that I was going to call it a weekend and dive another day.

So, what is the rule on tooth pain caused by sinus? I thought that the rule was if you are having any type of tooth pain, don't dive. Did I do the right thing? Could I have rested, taken some Sudafed, and tried later? Of note, later in the day, I started getting really congested, and now have either a nasty head cold, a spring allergy, or both. I still feel stupid for canceling a wonderful dive weekend with perfect weather and awesome buddies. Could someone give me a reality check on whether I did the right thing?

 

[adurso]

If it does not feel right, do not do it. One may always dive another day. You did the right thing

 

[krawlings]

You did the wright thing . Any time you feel pain somrthing is not right Sound like you had some sinus blockage and maybe have a dental problem. I would suggest you see your doc and have all checked out better saf than sorry you can allways dive a nother day. good luck DIVE SAFE

 

[doctormike]

Please confirm that I was not a total baby for canceling the rest of my dive weekend.

...

I was just fine until I got down to about 20 feet. At that point, I had horrible pain in my molars on the right side and some pain behind my right eye. I would go up a bit to 15 ft and feel just fine, but the couple of times I would go to 20 ft, the terrible tooth pain would begin. I had no trouble clearing my ears, but obviously, something was wrong in my sinus that I would have such bad teeth and eye pain.

You were absolutely right to scrub the dive because you were having a problem. You should NEVER feel obligated to go through with a dive, no matter what. There are some things that you simply HAVE to go through with once you have planned them (like a dinner party in your honor). There are other things that you should cancel if they just don't feel right - like SCUBA diving or getting married.

In any case, sounds like some sort of squeeze - if it was the upper teeth, it could have been the sinuses or the teeth themselves, if there was any trapped air. Have you had any dental work done in that area? Sometimes, air is trapped below a crown and the nerve is still live... If it was the lower molars, that's even more likely to be a "tooth squeeze". The physiology is the same as barotrauma in the ear, sometimes you can equalize, sometimes you can't...

If it was a true tooth squeeze, you have a little more leeway - hard to seriously injure yourself by pushing that. On the other hand, a sinus squeeze can involve rupture of air and/or fluid into the space behind the eye with some serious potential for long term troubles...

The cold/allergy that you had brewing is a likely culprit - don't worry, there will be plenty of other dives! Feel better soon...

Mike

 

[RonFrank]

You did the right thing to call off the dives. If you ended up with a head cold, and little diving, it would have only been much worst to continue the dives.

As DR. Mike indicated tooth pain can be caused by getting air trapped under the tooth during a dental procedure. Do you have caps? I suppose even a filling COULD trap air, but less likely.

The eyeball thing is plain pressure, pure and simple. You were congested.

Hope you feel better.

 

[Walter]

Sounds like a sinus squeeze. Tooth squeeze is extremely rare.

Please confirm that I was not a total baby for canceling the rest of my dive weekend.

The disturbing thing about this question is that you felt you had to ask it. Anyone can cancel any dive at any time for any reason or for no reason at all without worrying about getting at hard time over it. Don't every let anyone talk you into diving when you aren't feeling right. Pain is an indication there's a problem. None of us should be diving with congestion and my experience with Sudafed is it doesn't clear up congestion.

 

[Fly Girl]

Thanks, everyone. I feel better that I did the right thing. I forgot to mention is that once the pain started, I could taste blood. I was sort of surprised that there was no blood in my mask when I surfaced. I've had no new dental work and no crowns on the upper molars on the right side, and the pain was up in the roots to the cheek bone, so I'm pretty sure it is sinus, especially with the way I feel now. I'm regularly taking Sudafed, Mucinex, Naserel, and saline rinses for the rest of the month to clear this up before I go to Cancun on the 24th. You are all right, if it doesn't feel good, it likely isn't. Thanks again for the confirmation.

 

[scubadiver888]

Thanks, everyone. I feel better that I did the right thing. I forgot to mention is that once the pain started, I could taste blood. I was sort of surprised that there was no blood in my mask when I surfaced. I've had no new dental work and no crowns on the upper molars on the right side, and the pain was up in the roots to the cheek bone, so I'm pretty sure it is sinus, especially with the way I feel now. I'm regularly taking Sudafed, Mucinex, Naserel, and saline rinses for the rest of the month to clear this up before I go to Cancun on the 24th. You are all right, if it doesn't feel good, it likely isn't. Thanks again for the confirmation.

Fly Girl,

I'd recommend going to see a doctor. If it is a sinus infection you can often get in cleared up in 3 days with generic penicillin.

You should at least consult the pharmacist at your local drug store about all the different medications you are taking to be sure there are no interactions.

 

[Fly Girl]

Follow up - After not feeling any better, and even feeling worse, I went to the doctor today. Yes, I do have a sinus infection. Hopefully, I'll be feeling much better soon. On a cool note, my doctor was really interested in getting his family together and learning to dive. He has been thinking about it for awhile, and he seemed really happy to learn more. Maybe this experience will get another family diving?