New to Diving, questions about my equipment

sdreefers · Feb 1, 2007

My wife and I are going on a nice vacation in June to Belize and we decided that diving would be a lot of fun. My wife and I never been diving. I have snorkeled for years but thought it would be fun to dive. The biggest problem is that my wife has severe TMJ and even with the different mouthpieces available it's near impossible for her to hold onto them for much more than a few minutes. We decided to purchase the following equipment. We went this route because we were thinking that it would be better to learn on our equipment before our trip.

Ocean Reef FFM
Vest BC - Rip tides (orange ones from scubatoys)
Oceanic pro plus 2 w/ quick disconnect and compass
Oceanic balanced first stage
Viper Octo

We went with the FFM because of my wifes TMJ. Is there anything else I should be considering.

Thanks again for all of your suggestions.

offroaddiver · Feb 1, 2007

look up seacure mouthpieces. with a little hot water you can get them to fit your mouth perfectly. keep your eyes open on getting gear and try everything out first. I know that's a bit of a hard task but definitly do this step. The viper octo i've heard good and bad about. I've dove a dacor viper set before and didn't like the feel. definitely get an octo you would feel confident breathing on and make sure you have people in the local area that can do the maintanence work.
I shopped around and finally bought what i wanted and knew would be a great investment. One major thing was the nearby diveshop that can service a majority of the gear.

Bratface · Feb 1, 2007

I agree with the Seacure mouthpiece. I have had one for over two years. It really cuts down on jaw fatigue and is much more comfortable than the ones that come with your reg.

sdreefers · Feb 1, 2007

offroaddiver:
look up seacure mouthpieces. with a little hot water you can get them to fit your mouth perfectly. keep your eyes open on getting gear and try everything out first. I know that's a bit of a hard task but definitly do this step. The viper octo i've heard good and bad about. I've dove a dacor viper set before and didn't like the feel. definitely get an octo you would feel confident breathing on and make sure you have people in the local area that can do the maintanence work.
I shopped around and finally bought what i wanted and knew would be a great investment. One major thing was the nearby diveshop that can service a majority of the gear.

Thanks for the info. I have had a hard time finding anything local here in South Dakota. We have 1 really nice diveshop. I am thinking that I will probably just have to mail the stuff I get back to the shop when it needs service. I already purchased the equipment and did a fair amount of research, however, I found conflicting reports on most of it so in the end I just had Joe at scubatoys recommend it to me. I specifically asked about FFM's because of the TMJ and normal regulator discomfort. Again, great info. and I realy appreciate it!

Mark Vlahos · Feb 1, 2007

I used to have a relatively mild problem with TMJ. It would get me at the strangest times, but I would often have problems while diving. For me the Auqalung ComfoBite mouthpiece helped a lot. It allowed me to hold the reg in my mouth with upward pressure from my tongue pressing against the part of the mouthpiece that sits on the roof of my mouth just behind my front teeth. While I would hold the reg in position I was then able to move my jaw a bit to work out the pain only needing to keep my lips closed enough to prevent water from coming in. Relaxing the jaw muscles is key, and your wife will be stressed while she is still a new diver. I have heard that many with TMJ have had success with the ComfoBite while others have not, so you would need to decide accordingly.

The full face mask is an interesting solution to the problem, I hope it works for your wife. My solution was a combination of dental work (braces to correct a severely misaligned bite) and jaw exercises. TMJ chased me for about 25 years, but I have not had ANY problems in just over 3 years.

A full face mask carries its own complications with regard to just general diving use, your wife will still need to be proficient in the use of a standard regulator mouthpiece and mask combination, although it will be for backup use only.

Good luck, and have fun on your vacation.

Mark Vlahos

sdreefers · Feb 1, 2007

Mark Vlahos:
I used to have a relatively mild problem with TMJ. It would get me at the strangest times, but I would often have problems while diving. For me the Auqalung ComfoBite mouthpiece helped a lot. It allowed me to hold the reg in my mouth with upward pressure from my tongue pressing against the part of the mouthpiece that sits on the roof of my mouth just behind my front teeth. While I would hold the reg in position I was then able to move my jaw a bit to work out the pain only needing to keep my lips closed enough to prevent water from coming in. Relaxing the jaw muscles is key, and your wife will be stressed while she is still a new diver. I have heard that many with TMJ have had success with the ComfoBite while others have not, so you would need to decide accordingly.

The full face mask is an interesting solution to the problem, I hope it works for your wife. My solution was a combination of dental work (braces to correct a severely misaligned bite) and jaw exercises. TMJ chased me for about 25 years, but I have not had ANY problems in just over 3 years.

A full face mask carries its own complications with regard to just general diving use, your wife will still need to be proficient in the use of a standard regulator mouthpiece and mask combination, although it will be for backup use only.

Good luck, and have fun on your vacation.

Mark Vlahos

Mark, I agree dental work would be best, we will see if I can get her in..... probably not going to happen, but what the heck, I will give that a try.
We will be learning how to use a standard regulator and mask setup but then probably just have it for backups. Our local dive shop said they would go over all of the issues of FFM's in a class if we were interested. I am guessing probably when we learn nitrox so that would be good. We just needed an easy cure to TMJ and this seemed to be it. She also doesn't like breathing through her mouth (she said) and that's why she would like a FFM. Now, she knows that she will still have to learn the traditionals, and she is ok with that, as long as it's only needed as a backup. It's difficult because I want her to enjoy diving, however, FFM's seem to have a slight learning curve as well. Our local dive shop said they were awesome and others say they are bad. I will keep you posted as to my results.

undefined · Feb 1, 2007

Have you already purchased the Ocean Reef FFM? There are several threads on this board about this mask, with a general consensus that it is a terrible choice for a FFM. If you love your wife and your credit card can take the hit, buy her the AGA Interspiro Divator MK II. There are several differences in diving with a FFM vs. regular mask, be sure to practice several times in the pool at your LDS before taking it out to open water.

sdreefers · Feb 1, 2007

undefined:
Have you already purchased the Ocean Reef FFM? There are several threads on this board about this mask, with a general consensus that it is a terrible choice for a FFM. If you love your wife and your credit card can take the hit, buy her the AGA Interspiro Divator MK II. There are several differences in diving with a FFM vs. regular mask, be sure to practice several times in the pool at your LDS before taking it out to open water.

Yes, I did purchase the mask. I was told that it was a great mask. I did research it and there are some that don't like it. My credit card can't take the hit of the AGA so what else would you suggest.

undefined · Feb 1, 2007

I'd suggest that if she is the only one with bad TMJ that you send back the Ocean Reef and buy her the AGA (about the price of two Ocean Reef's, maybe less) and buy yourself a standard mask. The AGA is professional grade equipment and will serve her well, although it still requires some additional practice and training compared to a standard mask.

The other option is to go dive with standard regs and a Sea Cure custom mouthpiece. The Sea Cure only costs about $30 each.

sdreefers · Feb 1, 2007

undefined:
I'd suggest that if she is the only one with bad TMJ that you send back the Ocean Reef and buy her the AGA (about the price of two Ocean Reef's, maybe less) and buy yourself a standard mask. The AGA is professional grade equipment and will serve her well, although it still requires some additional practice and training compared to a standard mask.

The other option is to go dive with standard regs and a Sea Cure custom mouthpiece. The Sea Cure only costs about $30 each.

Ok, I will see about sending them back. The custom mouthpiece may be an option for us. I have about $2500-$3000 total to spend between the two of us so I am limited by that.

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