What difference in symptom resolution helps distinguish barodontalgia pain from pain caused by a deep cavity?
Barodontalgia pain often resolves relatively quickly after returning to surface pressure.
A crucial diagnostic observation noted by divers involves the persistence of pain following a dive. Pain directly attributable to barodontalgia—meaning the discomfort was caused solely by the acute pressure differential—tends to subside relatively quickly once the diver returns to surface pressure and the pressure fluctuations cease. Conversely, if the underlying cause is a more fundamental dental pathology, such as active pulp inflammation (pulpitis) or a deep cavity that was exacerbated by the pressure change, the resulting pain is likely to linger, persist, or potentially worsen after surfacing. This difference in how quickly the discomfort dissipates serves as an unofficial but useful indicator of the source severity.
