Swallowed dental prosthesis causing late oesophageal obstruction and tracheo-oesophageal fistula in a young patient.
- 1Leicester Medical School, University of Leicester, George Davies Centre, Lancaster Road, Leicester LE1 7HA, United Kingdom.
- 2Leicester Royal Infirmary, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Infirmary Square, Leicester LE1 5WW, United Kingdom.
Abstract
A 25-year-old man presented to the emergency department after a rugby accident having swallowed a dental plate. Initial assessment at the time of ingestion, including a chest radiograph, was unremarkable and the plate was presumed to have been expectorated. Five years later he presented with progressive dysphagia, recurrent food bolus obstruction, and haemoptysis. Computed tomography of the thorax performed 5 years later revealed circumferential oesophageal thickening and a large inflammatory mass around a retained radio-opaque foreign body at the level of the carina, with an associated tracheo-oesophageal fistula. Endoscopy confirmed near-complete obstruction of the oesophagus. He underwent a right thoracotomy with oesophagectomy, removal of the retained dental prosthesis and repair of the fistula. He made a slow but steady recovery and has required anastomotic dilatation for a stricture. This case highlights the risk of complications from retained oesophageal foreign bodies and the limitations of plain radiography in detecting non-radio-opaque dental plates.
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BibTeX
@article{prasanna2026swallowed,
title = {{Swallowed dental prosthesis causing late oesophageal obstruction and tracheo-oesophageal fistula in a young patient.}},
author = {Harish Prasanna and Daniel Boyle and David Bowrey},
journal = {Journal of surgical case reports},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1093/jscr/rjag946},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42899258},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Swallowed dental prosthesis causing late oesophageal obstruction and tracheo-oesophageal fistula in a young patient.
AU - Harish Prasanna
AU - Daniel Boyle
AU - David Bowrey
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/19
JO - Journal of surgical case reports
DO - 10.1093/jscr/rjag946
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42899258
AB - A 25-year-old man presented to the emergency department after a rugby accident having swallowed a dental plate. Initial assessment at the time of ingestion, including a chest radiograph, was unremarkable and the plate was presumed to have been expectorated. Five years later he presented with progressive dysphagia, recurrent food bolus obstruction, and haemoptysis. Computed tomography of the thorax performed 5 years later revealed circumferential oesophageal thickening and a large inflammatory mass around a retained radio-opaque foreign body at the level of the carina, with an associated tracheo-oesophageal fistula. Endoscopy confirmed near-complete obstruction of the oesophagus. He underwent a right thoracotomy with oesophagectomy, removal of the retained dental prosthesis and repair of the fistula. He made a slow but steady recovery and has required anastomotic dilatation for a stricture. This case highlights the risk of complications from retained oesophageal foreign bodies and the limitations of plain radiography in detecting non-radio-opaque dental plates.
SN - 2042-8812
ER -