Most of us when we get a blocked nose, we rarely think it’s anything worse than allergies or a flu – maybe a sinus infection as a worst case scenario.
One man in Denmark got the shock of his life when the symptoms of a blocked nose turned out to be a tooth. The 59 year-old had been suffering from nasal congestion and discharge from two years, as well as a loss of his sense of smell. When doctors went and did some investigating into his symptoms, it turned out to be a tooth.
BMJ Case Reports states that the man had suffered a facial trauma in his early age and from that he was left with a fractured jaw and nose. They believe this is what led to a tooth becoming lodged in his sinuses many years later.
However, Sky News reports that the doctors claimed that there’s no evidence to support a repositioning following the accident as the reason for the nasal growth.
Dr Milos Fuglsang stated to BMJ Case Reports, “Our patient most likely had the intranasal retained tooth most of his life, but had late onset of symptoms.”
Following a CT scan, doctor’s used an endoscope in order to perform a surgical extraction of the tooth at University Hospital Aarhus’s ear, nose and throat facility.
Initially doctors believed that it was a cyst or tumor that they were removing.
The report said, “Intranasal teeth are a rare finding but important to recognise since nasal congestion, chronic discharge and hyposmia can decrease quality of life.”
Following the procedure the patient made a full recovery within a month, only needing nasal saline irrigation and ten days of antibiotics, and no new symptoms have been reported.
The MailOnline says that growing a tooth this way is extremely rare with only about one per cent of the population being affected.
Speaking of objects being removed from noses, just recently a little girl in India had to undergo surgery to remove a safety pin from her nose after it became wedged in an open position – ouch!
Moumita Let was taken to hospital in Suri, West Bengal, in excruciating pain, where Dr Suvendu Bhattacharya then had to remove the pin through her mouth under a general anaesthetic.
Using only an endoscope and his fingers, Dr Bhattacharya was able to locate and safely remove the pin.
He said, “I saw that the pin was wedged behind the middle turbinate of the nose. It was impossible to pull it out from the front as the pin was open from inside and would have caused further injury. We had already put a nasal tube to enable her to breathe.
He further added, “Then I inserted the endoscope into the nostril and got the pin dislodged pushing into the mouth from it was finally retrieved.”
It’s a good reminder for all of us to not stick random objects up our noses.
