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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · European Journal of General Dentistry 2014; 3(03): 202-204
DOI: 10.4103/2278-9626.141672
Case Report

Accidental swallowing of endodontic instrument: Could be a medical emergency

Rhythm Bains
Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, Career Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Kapil Loomba
1   Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, Saraswati Dental College and Hospital, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Sonal Sinha
2   Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, Faculty of Dental Sciences, King George′s Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Vivek Kumar Bains
3   Department of Periodontology, Saraswati Dental College and Hospital, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
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Abstract

Accidents are unpleasant incidences that happen when we are careless or when we do not follow the safety rules. In the dental office, foreign body ingestion or aspiration is a rare but serious mishappening. Ingestion of blunt foreign objects is less life-threatening and the object is generally egested through the gastrointestinal tract uneventfully, but sharp objects like endodontic files may sometimes cause intestinal perforation. Aspiration, on the other hand, is a more serious, but fortunately, less prevalent hazard and often leads to hospitalization of the patient. From a legal aspect also, such incidence is counted as negligence on the part of the operator and the dentist should be well aware of the legal liabilities and should take the appropriate preventive measures to prevent or intercept any untoward circumstance.

Keywords

Aspiration - ingestion - rubber-dam


Publication History

Article published online:
01 November 2021

© 2014. European Journal of General Dentistry. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)

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