Dental Barotrauma and Pressure-Related Dental Pain Among Civilian Scuba Divers in Dakar, Senegal: A Cross-Sectional Study.

OBJECTIVES

This study estimated the career-to-date prevalence of self-reported dental barotrauma and of pressure-related dental pain consistent with barodontalgia among civilian scuba divers in Dakar, Senegal, and explored associated factors.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

A STROBE-compliant cross-sectional study was conducted between March 15 and October 20, 2023 across the three organized civilian diving clubs of Dakar. An anonymous questionnaire, adapted into French from published instruments, was offered to the 360 registered divers, online and then on paper. Outcomes were self-reported; no clinical examination was performed. Pain reported exclusively at constant depth was excluded from the primary case definition. Prevalences carry Wilson-score 95% confidence intervals; exploratory models used Firth penalized regression. No adjustment was made for multiple comparisons.

RESULTS

Of 160 participants (118 men, 73.8%; mean age 34.9 ± 11.2 years), 24 reported dental barotrauma (15.0%; 95% CI: 10.3-21.3) and 21 reported pressure-related dental pain (13.1%; 95% CI: 8.7-19.2), rising to 16.2% without the phase restriction; 36 divers (22.5%) reported at least one event. Most affected divers located an event at 20 m or shallower. Posterior, maxillary, and previously restored teeth were each frequently reported. Barotrauma showed crude associations with longer experience (median 10 vs. 4 years; p = 0.006), older age (p = 0.048), more than 60 lifetime dives (p = 0.029), and CMAS certification (p < 0.001); certification and club membership were almost entirely collinear and were never modeled together.

CONCLUSIONS

About one respondent in five reported a pressure-related dental event during their diving career, yet only half had told their dentist that they dive and fewer than one in five had received diving-specific advice. Because outcomes were self-reported and clinically unverified, these findings are hypothesis-generating.