Doctors remove tooth from man’s nostril after two years of nasal congestion
The exact cause of the rare condition is unknown.
A man has undergone surgery to remove a tooth from inside his nostril, after suffering with an unexplained blocked nose for two years.
Doctors in Denmark were astonished to find the rare condition in a 59-year-old man, who had complained of nasal congestion problems, discharge and loss of his sense of smell.
“Our patient most likely had the intranasal retained tooth most of his life, but had late onset of symptoms,” wrote Dr Milos Fuglsang in BMJ Case Reports, who carried out the tooth extraction at University Hospital Aarhus’s ear, nose and throat facility.
Following a CT scan, doctors decided to use an endoscope to perform a surgical extraction.
Specialists believe it could be due to trauma, infections from a cyst, or developmental disturbances such as cleft lip or cleft palate, but have no obvious explanation for this particular case.
The issue can affect both children and adults, but reported cases so far suggest it is more common in men by 60%.
It appears that the extraction procedure has cleared up the individual’s blocked nose troubles, with no new symptoms reported a month later.
