Although rare, hypodermic needle fractures can occur in the maxillofacial region. In cases of fracture, urgent intervention is required to prevent further complications. We present the case of a 37-year-old female patient with a fractured needle in the left sublingual fossa during a lingual nerve block 6 months before referral. The fragment of a 30-gauge needle was located using cone-beam computed tomography and retrieved under local anesthesia with blunt dissection. The patient recovered uneventfully, except for predictable postoperative inflammatory complications, which resolved within 2 weeks. Precautions should be implemented to prevent needle fractures, which are usually preventable. However, if the retrieval is unsuccessful, the patient should be referred to a well-equipped surgical unit without delay.

BACKGROUND: In dentistry, pain is a factor that negatively affects treatments and drug use. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlations of the postoperative analgesic use with pain catastrophizing and anxiety in patients who underwent removal of an impacted mandibular third molar.METHODS: We recruited 92 patients who underwent the extraction of impacted mandibular third molar. In this study, the Pederson index was used to preoperatively determine the difficulty of surgical extraction. Patients were asked to note the number of analgesics used for 7 postoperative days. Patients were divided into two groups based on the Pain Catastrophizing Scale: low and high score groups. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-trait and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-state questionnaires were used to determine the anxiety levels of the patients. The obtained data were examined to evaluate the correlations of pain catastrophizing and anxiety with the postoperative analgesic use.RESULTS: In this study, 92 patients, including 60 women and 32 men, were recruited. The analgesic use was higher in women than in men but with no significant difference (P > 0.05). Pain Catastrophizing Scale scores were higher in women than in men but with no significant difference (P > 0.05). The analgesic use was higher in patients with high pain catastrophizing than in those with low pain catastrophizing but with no significant difference (P > 0.05). State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-trait scores were higher in women than in men but with no significant difference. However, state-Trait Anxiety Inventory-state scores were significantly higher in women than in men (P < 0.05).CONCLUSION: The postoperative analgesic use may be higher in patients who catastrophize pain than in others. Knowing the patient's catastrophic characteristics preoperatively would contribute to successful pain management and appropriate drug selection.
Analgesics ; Anxiety ; Catastrophization ; Dental Anxiety ; Dentistry ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Molar, Third ; Pain Management ; Tooth, Impacted