Want to Try Scuba Diving? You Should Visit Your Dentist First, Study Suggests

A new study from the University of Buffalo revealed that people who wants to become or already training to become scuba divers may want to visit their dentist's office first before taking their first or next plunge.

The study, published in the British Dental Journal, showed that the constant jaw clenching and fluctuations in the atmospheric pressure underwater could result to a wide range of dental symptoms, ranging from tooth, jaw and gum pain to loosened crown and broken dental fillings.

"Divers are required to meet a standard of medical fitness before certification, but there are no dental health prerequisites," said Vinisha Ranna, BDS, a student in the UB School of Dental Medicine and lead author of the study, in a press release. "Considering the air supply regulator is held in the mouth, any disorder in the oral cavity can potentially increase the diver's risk of injury. A dentist can look and see if diving is affecting a patient's oral health."

For the study, Ranna created an online survey distributed to 100 certified recreational divers. As a certified stress and rescue scuba diver herself, Ranna hopes to identify the dental symptoms divers experience and detect trends in how or when they occur.

Out of the participants in the study, 41 of them reported experiencing dental symptoms. Of those, 42 percent reported experiencing squeezing sensation on their teeth, or a condition called barodontalgia. Other dental symptoms experienced by divers include pain from holding the air regulator with their mouth too tightly with 24 percent, jaw pain with 22 percent and loosened crown with five percent. One of the participants reported a broken dental filling.

Additionally, the researchers found that pain was most commonly reported in the molars. The frequency or time spent in the shallower depths also played a role on how frequent dental symptoms occur, with those who dive more frequently experiencing more dental symptoms.

With their findings, Ranna and her colleagues noted that aspiring divers should first address dental decay and restoration before attempting a dive.