Incidence of barodontalgias and their relation to oral/ dental condition in personnel with responsibility in military flight.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of the present study was to investigate the incidence of barodontalgias in a sample of 506 patients, all of whom are personnel with responsibility in military flight. An additional aim was to correlate this incidence with various oral pathologies and their subsequent treatment.


METHODS
The ICAO and CPITN indices in flight personnel who underwent the obligatory official examination at the Straits Air Command Hospital were investigated, in each case taking the data of the initial examination. Any effects that occurred in simulated flights, conducted in a hypobaric chamber, were also recorded. Any case of barodontalgia was investigated in depth, relating it to the pathology that caused it, and observing the result of the treatment employed.


RESULTS
There were three cases of barodontalgia (2.63%). The pain was essentially of posterior localisation (92.3%), and in the majority of cases was described as acute and localised (61.5%). In a high percentage it did not disappear after landing (61.5%). The pathologies were varied, and the treatments were in keeping with these. The result after the therapeutic phase was entirely satisfactory in 69.2%. If we correlate the appearance of barodontalgias with other variables, in the patients who experienced them we record a larger number of fillings (P = 0.1617) and a smaller number of teeth missing (P = 0.6603). The Caries Index is similar in the two groups (P = 0.9187). The average ICAO is higher (P = 0.3345) in those patients who suffered from pain, though it must be pointed out that the low number of cases means it is difficult to record statistically significant results.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results showed an incidence of barodontalgia in the study population of 2.63%, overall. In real flight the incidence was 2.4% and in the ascents conducted in the hypobaric chamber it was 0.2%. On the other hand, no statistically significant differences were found between the results for the Indices of Oral Health of the patients affected by barodontalgia and those not so affected, although the ICAO was greater.
Capitan Odontólogo HM "Vigil de Quiñones", Sevilla, Spain.
María del Mar
Mdel M
Gonzalez Santiago
Angel
A
Martinez-Sahuquillo Marquez
Pedro
P
Bullón-Fernández
D000328:Adult; D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D011312:Pressure; D014098:Toothache / Q000453:epidemiology*