Doctors Found Pieces of Braces Attached to a Woman's Stomach 10 Years Later
When a 30-year-old Australian woman recently went to the hospital over some serious stomach pains, she never expected it would turn out to be a medical nightmare. Doctors say that they found a piece of dental wire stuck inside the woman's small intestine, according to a case published in the journal BMJ Case Reports on Aug. 7. The strangest part of this ordeal? The patient hadn't worn braces for 10 years.
Initially, the doctors at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital believed the woman's discomfort had to do with her gallbladder and sent her back home, CNN reports. But, after returning two days later with much more pain, the woman received a CAT scan, which revealed a piece of dental wire, nearly 3 inches long, piercing various parts of her intestine. The penetration of the wire resulted in volvulus, a rare condition that occurs when the intestine twists around and causes bowel obstruction.
"I think it was probably just sitting there in her stomach the whole time, and then when the small bowel was punctured, that's when the pain started," Dr. Talia Shepherd, one of the treating physicians of the patient told CNN.
Luckily, the doctors performed an emergency surgery to remove the dental wire. They assume the piece has been inside the woman for nearly a decade, even if she doesn't recall swallowing any part of her braces.
Former brace faces shouldn't worry though-it seems like this case is just a bizarre occurrence."The chances of swallowing a wire from your braces is very low," Dr. Shepherd added. "There might be a higher chance if you're sedated and undergo a dental procedure. But this is a very unusual case."
(h/t PopSugar)
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