Regulators changing mouths

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

I have noticed that some people are not comfortable in taking another person's reg in their own mouth during an air-share. I have always done real time air shares and my understanding is that chlorine water, sea water and even fresh quarry water washes away any germs that you might be concerned with. Is it a realistic concern or are we suffering from "germ-paranoia" here? Are there agencies that actually prevent people from sharing regulators during air share during training?

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

you should remind them that their octopus is basically floating in liquid a$$.....always...ALWAYS...

The ocean is one huge pescatarian septic tank....

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Exactly but primary going into someones mouth is when people tend to freak out.

 

[Lorenzoid]

No, it's probably not sanitary. I don't recall having shared air during training with anyone other than my wife, and I would be hesitant to share air with random people. As for whether germs are washed away, my understanding is that germs are sort of sticky, which is why we use soap to lather up our hands. Depending on the orientation of a donated primary reg when the donee receives it, water may not even have gotten past the mouthpiece.

 

[arcticat99]

run out of air or stick a germ ridden regulator in your mouth hmmmm .gonna be funny seeing people carrying alcohol swabs with them to wipe off the mouthpiece at depth ."Im out of air but wait let me search through my pocket for a sanitary wipe."ya i think i will take my chance with germs

 

[g1138]

I personally have seen thick viscous saliva on my mouthpiece after some dives, from myself. If you're buddying breathing at realistic pace, you probably are swapping saliva. You won't be creating enough motion to wash away everything. Just don't put your tongue or mind on it.

 

[elgoog]

I use a variant of the already-suspect "5 second rule" to trick my brain into thinking it's OK. If it touched water and I purged the reg, it's all good.

For land drills, I never put the donated reg in my mouth; always tucked it in my necklace. I mean, I barely even like having my reg in my mouth when I'm out of the water because it makes me gag after a few seconds. Someone else's spit covered reg? Nah, bruh.

Are there agencies that actually prevent people from sharing regulators during air share during training?

I assume you meant this for land drills and not in the water 'cause of the drowning part in the latter. I doubt any agency specifically has a rule about this because diving is gross anyway.

 

[TMHeimer]

I never worried about this when I was assisting on OW courses. And I'm, like, Howie Mandel or Felix Unger in that I won't even drink from my own glass if it's been sitting a while. The last thing I do when exiting the water on a shore dive is to dunk the mouthpiece in the water to eliminate my own spit--even though an hour later it will be thoroughly rinsed anyway.

 

[Lorenzoid]

run out of air or stick a germ ridden regulator in your mouth hmmmm .gonna be funny seeing people carrying alcohol swabs with them to wipe off the mouthpiece at depth ."Im out of air but wait let me search through my pocket for a sanitary wipe."ya i think i will take my chance with germs

I think the OP is talking only about doing training exercises. In an actual emergency, I don't think any of us would object to a few germs as the price to pay for avoiding drowning.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Exactly but primary going into someones mouth is when people tend to freak out.

Point I’m making is that they are basically swimming in an eternity of poosweat.....if they think of it that way they may either:

A) never dive again
B) have less of an issue with it


....with a few trillion decaying corpses thrown in to really ‘soup it up’