Danger in freediving with infection

[Tony Babowicz]

If anyone can shine some light on this subject, I will greatly appreciate. I have an infection in my mouth, its most likely a tooth and I'm on antibiotics now, and will most likely get a root canal in the next week or so. I'm planning on freediving twice before I get this fixed. Max depth 40mtrs. both days. Should I be concerned with an infection like this or am I still shallow enough for this not to be a concern? Are there any risks?
Thanks..... Tony

 

[TheDude]

I would say there are two kinds of risk here:
First the infection on the tooth canal might create a cavity filled with air, even if it is a tiny one. Air gets pressurized there during descent, and expands during ascent which in some cases like when the way it got in gets blocked, can lead to breaking the tooth apart. I'm not a doctor so don't ask me about the details on this, but I was warned about this possibility from my instructor.

Second - diving on antibiotics, or any other drugs. The high pressure in your body can have unknown effects in combination with drugs. Boosting the nitrogen narcosis might be one of them. And I would say 5 bar (40m) is high enough.

I don't think this will make you stay away from water anyway The chance that some problems arise is quite small, but just be aware of possible problems, start diving shallow and progress deeper and always monitor yourself. I would stop diving, or going deeper if feeling anything unusual/weird.

 

[Tony Babowicz]

Thanks dude, I spent 20 min @ 30mtrs. (scuba) last saturday and didn't notice any tooth squeeze. Of course my ascent was much slower than freediving.AS for the antibiotics, I took the last one yesterday. This gives me five days without antibiotics by Sunday.(my first dive) My real concern is if there is any remaining infection, will pressure effect it in any way. Thanks again
Tony

 

[sanso]

... didn't notice any tooth squeeze. ... remaining infection, will pressure effect it in any way. ...

Whatever still lives around Your tooth will likely not be affected by the pressure. That You didn't get any reverse squeeze this time, though, is no guarantee that it's going to be the same the next time as well.
Good luck anyway!

 

[trux]

With teeth or sinus infections there is also a seriously increased risk of getting ear infection after diving. Personally, I'd stay out of the water untill I am perfectly cured. You have still decades of diving in front of you, so why risking screwing it up by devastating your health?

 

[Tony Babowicz]

Thanks for the great advice Trux,Sanso, and Thedude. I'm hoping to be 100% by Sunday. If not, I'll stay dry. Thanks again
Tony