Barodontalgia and its implications for Navy divers and dentists: A narrative review.

Background: One of the responsibilities of Spanish Navy Dentists is to carry out dental examinations to military divers. Diving is considered an elite activity and carries a high risk of different pathologies, including barodontalgia which is an oral pain induced by atmospheric pressure changes. This study aims to conduct a narrative review on barodontalgia and its implications for divers and Navy dentists.

Material And Methods: A search was carried out in Pubmed-MEDLINE, Embase and Scielo for all types of articles that explained and related barodontalgia to divers and their diving activities.

Results: Barodontalgia is a rare pathology, but with a higher incidence in the military environment than in the civilian one, being more frequent in upper teeth. Its etiopathogenesis is related to how the tooth reacts to pressure changes. Depending on the time of onset and type of pain during the activity, it can be classified in different ways. The diagnosis is complicated due to the impossibility to reproduce in the dental office the conditions in which it first appeared.

Conclusions: Military dentists must know about barodontalgia and its relationship with other oral pathologies, in order to avoid its appearance in military divers. Barodontalgia, navy dentists, military divers, scuba diving.