Why men should not iron: unperceived swallowed dental root instrument causes seven years of abdominal pain

Thorough documentation of the accidental aspiration and ingestion of foreign objects during dental procedure is necessary: review and analysis of 617 cases

OBJECTIVES

To review the cases of accidental aspiration and ingestion of foreign objects during dental procedure, and to emphasize the importance of thorough documentation of the accidents.

METHODS

A comprehensive search on (dental procedure/treatment/practice), (aspiration/inhalation), and (ingestion/swallow) was performed for all years before 1st October 2014 available. The statistic analysis was made on the variables including journals and reported year, patients' age, gender, general conditions, dental procedure and location for procedure, foreign objects, site of involvement, possible causes, anesthesia during procedure and treatment, symptoms, treatment time and treatment modality, follow-up, and so on.

RESULTS

A total of 617 cases reported by 45 articles from 37 kinds of journals were included and analyzed. Most reports made detailed record. While some important variables were recorded incompletely, including patient's general conditions, location for procedure, clinical experience of the involving dentists, tooth position of procedure, possible causes, and anesthesia during procedure and treatment for the accident.

CONCLUSIONS

Aspiration and ingestion of foreign objects are rare and risky complication during dental procedure. Each accident should have thorough documentation so as to provide enough information for the treatment and prevention.

Retrieving dental instruments through endoscopy: A literature review

Clinical accidents involving dental instruments and materials inside the oral cavity are reported in the medical literature. Specifically, ingestion and aspiration of foreign bodies have greater prevalence in the routine of medicine and dentistry. Despite being less harmful than aspirations, the accidental ingestion of dental instruments does not always culminate in favorable prognoses. Mostly, complex conditions require medical intervention through endoscopy or surgical approaches. The present research aims to review the literature pointing out the specialties of dentistry most involved with accidental ingestion of dental instruments, highlighting the important role of endoscopy for accurately locating and retrieving foreign bodies. Prosthodontics, operative dentistry, orthodontics, and maxillofacial surgery arose as the specialties in which these accidents are more prevalent. Based on that, general dentists and specialists must be aware for the essential care to avoid such clinical accidents, as well as to know the available tools, such as endoscopy, to overcome these situations in the routine of dentistry.