1.Dental needle foreign body in the neck: a case report
Hassen MOHAMMED ; Nabil SHALLIK ; Mina BARSOUM ; Majid Al ABDULLA ; Zynel DOGAN ; Hassan Haidar AHMED ; Abbas MOUSTAFA
Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine 2020;20(2):83-87
Foreign body (FB) ingestion is commonly seen in the ear nose and throat (ENT) field, with different presentationsand sequelae. FBs can arrest in the upper aerodigestive tract or continue further down into either the airwaytract to the bronchus or the digestive tract to the intestines. The pathway of an FB depends on the size andshape of the FB and how sharp its edges are. Since the 20th century, the use of disposable stainless-steelneedles in the oral cavity has proven to be an effective and safe method for performing various intraoral procedureslike dental infiltration or a root canal wash. Complications from their use are rare. Generally, dental needlebreakages are caused by patients biting the needle, incorrect injection techniques, or inadequate preventativemeasures. The sudden movement of a patient during a procedure is one of the most common causes of breakage.Occasionally, needles are swallowed during dental procedures such as a root canal. Here, we report a caseof a patient that swallowed a broken needle during a dental procedure. A few days later, the patient presentedwith neck pain, swelling, and a FB sensation. When the patient presented, she claimed that her symptomshad onset after consuming a meal containing duck meat. Initially, the patient was diagnosed as having ingesteda duck bone. However, intraoperatively, the FB was discovered to be an injection needle that had migratedfrom the throat to the neck.