Misdiagnosed Tooth Aspiration in a Young Handicapped Boy: Case Report and Recommendations

Tooth inhalation remains a rare incident but it may occur during dental care, especially in children. We report here the case of a four-year-old boy with Down syndrome who came to the hospital after a dental trauma. During the extraction procedure, he aspired his maxillary incisor without presenting...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Thibault Canceill, Rémi Esclassan, Mathieu Marty, Marie-Cécile Valera, Estelle Trzaskawka-Moulis, Emmanuelle Noirrit-Esclassan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2019-01-01
Series:Case Reports in Dentistry
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/8495739
Description
Summary:Tooth inhalation remains a rare incident but it may occur during dental care, especially in children. We report here the case of a four-year-old boy with Down syndrome who came to the hospital after a dental trauma. During the extraction procedure, he aspired his maxillary incisor without presenting any signs of respiratory distress and was discharged by the surgical team, who thought that he had swallowed the tooth. Three weeks later, he was admitted to the emergency service because of a pulmonary infection. Two endoscopy interventions under general anesthesia were necessary to recover the foreign body inside the left lung. Because of the multiple symptoms associated with the trisomy 21 syndrome (general hypotonia, impaired immunity, etc.), practitioners should be very mindful of aspiration risks and complications during dental care. The systematic prescription of lung radiography would prevent the onset of pulmonary infections and enable an earlier intervention.
ISSN:2090-6447
2090-6455