Check your teeth before you fly

And flight crews are also being advised to make sure their teeth are in perfect health or they too could suffer while high in the skies.

The warning comes from Richard Coates, a dentist working at award-winning Riveredge Cosmetic Dentistry alongside Ken Harris, one of the UK’s leading cosmetic dentists.

Richard is concerned that many people don’t realise the implications of bad dental health when flying.

People could be putting themselves at risk of searing pain before they even make it to their holiday destination this summer and he advises anyone who thinks they may have a cavity or poorly executed filling to get checked before they leave.

Tooth pain while flying is caused by a condition known as Barodontalgia, which is pain in the teeth experienced during changes in pressure during flying.

First documented by World War II pilots, it is caused by small, air-filled pockets which can exist inside a cracked tooth, in a tooth where the filling is starting to fail or is poorly restored and in cases where a chronic abscess is lurking beneath.