Cause of reverse block

[jpcpat]

The last couple of weekends, I've been getting a reverse squeeze, but I'm not sure if it's sinus or dental.

When I get to the surface I feel pressure under my upper right back molar, then it seems to hit a nerve since the right side of my face, from the bottom of my eye sockets thru my upper lip goes numb. Then the pain starts. Lasts for about 5 hours - not fun & I'm surface support for the rest of the weekend.

I saw my dentist. The molar was cracked, so he put in a temporary crown, hoping it would hold everything together, but he was not sure the tooth was the problem. He's not familiar with Dive dentistry. He told me to dive this weekend and see what happened.

This weekend my profiles were the same as always (30- 40 ft 70 mins or so), it happened again after my 5th dive of the weekend (second of the day), but this time it was a lot less painful and cleared up in an hour or so. No more dives that day.

Are we on the right track with the dental issue, or should we be looking at possible sinus trouble (I have no history, no allergies or hay fever)? Also, does anyone know if going with the crown is typically helpful, or should we go right to a root canal?

My dentist and I would appreciate any input at all.

Thanks

[cancun mark]

In my experience, sinus pain is far more common than dental by about 500 to 1. Also, sinus pain can extend into the jaw and feel like it could be dental.

If you have had a deep seated but low grade sinus infection, it could explain your symptoms.

What I would suggest, is next weekend if it happens again, pop an over the counter sinus tab AFTER the last dive and see if that helps clear it up. If it doesnt, then it could be dental.

[jpcpat]

Mark,

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'll try the sudafed route, and see if it helps. I need the crown anyway since the tooth is cracked.

[abjonesiii]

Dude the same thing is happening to me right now. I went diving this past weekend and on the first dive I began descending, got to about 12 feet and suddenly had a pinching pain between my eyes. I ascended to 5 feet tried to relieve it to no avail. I yo-yoed there for a few minutes and finally surfaced. As I was ascending I could feel an odd sensation in my cheeks, and I could hear a hissing sound in my face. I lay on the surface for a few minutes wondering what had happened and while I was explaining the abort to my buddy it felt like lighting hit the back right of my jaw from somewhere high in my face. Instantly my teeth on the right side got cold and numb feeling. Not like Novocain numb, more like grinding pain numb. Needless to say the day was done. About 2 hours later I heard another hiss in my face and pain in my teeth was gone. I suppose my sinus was stopped up and had pinched the nerve and finally equalized.

Two days went by with no symptoms. Wednesday morning I woke up and blew my noise and it happened again. Right cheek got tight and teeth went numb. I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed but it was time to go to the doctor!

Anyhow, long story short Doc said I had one of the worst sinus infections he had seen in 25 years of practice. And that jaw pain was not uncommon with severe sinus congestion. He gave me an antibiotic, Zyrtec, and Nasonex spray. He also said I’d be OK to dive once the infection was beaten.

Hope this info helps. Let me know how you make out with it.

[Bob3]

Ouch, it hurt just reading the posts above.
Back in the "old days" of commercial diving we were told to never have root canals, the tooth would need to be pulled to make sure there would be no mischief from tiny air pockets. Things have advanced from that point, root canals are no longer on the "banned list".
I have 1 crown & it's been no problem at all, so at least that bit should be comforting news for you. (I'll spare you the story of how I got it )
Hope you get the problem straightened out with as little discomfort as possible.

[jpcpat]

Thanks for all the thoughts and the shared pain. My problem turned out to be dental. My dentist put on a temporary crown and said "Dive and see what happens" Problem recurred, but much less serious. To add to the humor, I was helping a rescue class as the unconcious diver. Good to have someone else tow me to shore.

The following weekend, the pressure came back when I surfaced. ******* this. I pushed the tooth sideways until I felt air drain out. Pain gone.

Got the pemanent crown and NO problems to date. Love my dentist now.