A three-inch piece of wire from an Australian woman’s braces removed 10 years ago caused her to go to the doctor in severe stomach pain.
Doctors initially thought that the 30-year-old’s gall bladder had caused the severe pain in her stomach, but a CT scan showed that an object had pierced the small intestine and caused the organ to twist around itself, CNN reported.
Thinking the object was a fish bone, the doctors operated and removed it, discovering that it was actually a piece of wire from her braces, which she had had removed from her teeth 10 years earlier, CNN reported. She didn’t remember swallowing any wire from her braces during the time she had them on her teeth, she said.
Dr. Talia Shepherd, who treated the woman, said the chances of swallowing a wire from your braces were extremely low, CNN reported. “There might be a higher chance if you’re sedated and undergo a dental procedure,” Shepherd said. “But this is a very unusual case.”
Gastroenterologist and professor of medicine Dr. Pat Raymond said that it was fairly common to see patients who had swallowed objects intentionally or unintentionally that then had to be surgically removed from the stomach or intestines, CNN reported. Some of the objected reported in recent years included a toothbrush, fitness tracker, lighter, LED bulb, and dentures, CNN reported.
One woman had an ink pen removed 25 years after accidentally swallowing it, and it still worked, CNN said.
The case was published by Shepherd in the BMJ Case Reports medical journal with advice to consider a swallowed object in cases of sudden onset stomach pain and to do CT scans more often to rule out ingested objects.
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