Relationships among barodontalgia prevalence, altitude, stress, dental care frequency, and barodontalgia awareness: a survey of Turkish pilots

Gas expansion in body cavities due to pressure changes at high altitudes can cause barodontalgia. This condition may compromise flight safety. To investigate relationships among barodontalgia awareness, dental visit frequency, and barodontalgia prevalence in civilian and military pilots operating at high altitudes. Civilian pilots from Turkish Airlines and military pilots from the Turkish Air Force, flying between November 2022 and January 2023, participated in this study. A 20-question survey was administered to 750 pilots, covering topics such as barodontalgia awareness, dental visit frequency, breaks after dental treatments, in-flight pain, and pain type and severity. The voluntary surveys were distributed by email. Of the 750 pilots, 526 completed the survey; 61% were aware of barodontalgia, and 81% of pilots who had experienced it reported pain at altitudes