Part of equipment falls down man's throat during dental procedure, lands him in hospital
SINGAPORE – A simple procedure to fill a tooth turned out to be a nightmare for Mr W and his wife, Ms Rina, when he ended up hospitalised for several days.
During the dental procedure at Jurong Polyclinic on the morning of May 28, part of the equipment the dentist was using on his tooth fell off and went down his throat.
When asked about the incident, a spokesman for the National University Polyclinics (NUP) said when a foreign object is suspected to be lodged in a patient’s body, the dentist would first do a dental X-ray to scan the upper and lower jaw and try to locate the object. If the object is not visible, the patient would be referred for further imaging scans, such as chest, lateral neck, and abdominal X-rays. “These scans would help determine the position of the fine instrument,” the spokesman said.
In this case, the dentist gave Mr W, who did not want to be named, a referral letter and told him to go to the emergency department of the nearest hospital to have it removed. Mr W, 51, took a bus to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, where he was admitted.