Newbie with mouth pain

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pword

pword

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I'm a total beginner and need a little help. I just started snorkeling as practice before a trip to St Croix next week. Thus far I've been been 3-4 times in a lake and on a drift dive in a river.

It's a blast and I really enjoy it when I can see but my problem is mouth/jaw fatigue, I guess. My jaw and teeth have been hurting after I finish.

At first I used an old snorkel with no flexible mouthpiece. I think I had it set too far back and my jaw and teeth killed me after I got through, even though I didn't realize it while snorkeling.

Then we bought new snorkels with flexible pieces and that seems to have helped my jaw, but my upper teeth molars still are really sore. I tried not too bite too hard this last time, remembering the pain from the first time, but it still is sore.

is this normal and will it get better the more I do it? Or what am I doing wrong? Biting too hard? Snorkel needs adjusting?

Thanks for helping a newbie out.
 
Sounds to me like you're biting down too hard on the mouth piece. My wife has similar pains after diving. It's fairly normal and will probably go away after more experience.

The more you relax the better overall the dive will go. :wink:
 
If you plan on doing a LOT of snorkeling, go you your local dive shop and purchase a "Sea-Cure" moldable mouthpiece and put it on your snorkel.

It will make a world of difference.

the K
 
Welcome to the board.
 
After an hour or 2 of skin-diving I will noitice that my bite is messed up. A few jaw thrusts clears it up.

No problems on scuba though.

Pete
 
I get that pain in my jaw, also, especially if I haven't been diving for awhile. After the first day of diving and I relax, it goes away.
 
If you can, I would suggest either buying a Comfo-Bite Mouthpiece or getting a snorkel from Aqua-Lung, who have Comfo-Bite Mouthpieces pre-installed on some models. :) These mouthpieces are incredible; I don't dive with anything else. Well worth the money IMHO.
 
Thanks for all the advice.

Just returned from the trip and the jaw pain didn't seem to be as much of an issue once I got going.

Saw some really cool stuff while snorkeling around STX -- 2-pound lobster, school (6) of barracudas, a little family of schoolmasters hiding under a reef, a stingray, reef squids, a sea cucumber, and tons and tons of fish. Husband saw a manta ray while diving. Very cool.

Our favorite thing to do was look up all the fish in the Reef Identification fish book at night back at the hotel. Great resource to have and will add the creature book to our library next time we go.
 
glad things went well... did you take any photos? Humann/DeLoach books are the best.. check into the newest edition of Reef Fish.. I think it is in its 3rd edition now.
 
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