September 2011    Download the Entire Issue (PDF)

Vol. 26, No. 9   What's this?

Do You Have Diver’s Mouth?

from the September, 2011 issue of Undercurrent  

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I recently came across an Internet blurb by Dr. Harold Katz, a dentist who heads the California Breath Clinics and author of the Bad Breath Bible. Having been in the dive business forever, I've never encountered a diver with the pariah's affliction called "Diver's Mouth," but perhaps the dive boats' exhaust fumes have prevented me from noticing.

Katz writes: "Some people who take up scuba diving find that, after a few weeks, they suffer from jaw aches and halitosis. What is going on here? Can anything be done about it, short of finding a new hobby? The good news is that no one needs to quit scuba diving just because it gives them bad breath. In fact, there is a name for this condition - - 'diver's mouth syndrome.'...