New Delhi: You must have come across the term 'Stomach Tooth' only as an idiom. But a real case of 'teeth in stomach' has come to light in New Delhi after a sexagenarian swallowed his artificial teeth while eating food.
It is learnt that the 67-year-old man accidentally swallowed his artificial teeth while eating food. When he felt discomfort, the family rushed him to the Fortis Hospital Vasant Kunj, Delhi where the doctors operated on him and took out the teeth through a complex surgery.
A team of doctors led by Dr Shubham Vatsya, Director of Gastroenterology and Hepatobiliary Sciences, Fortis Hospital Vasant Kunj, Delhi, handled the case and removed the dentures through several endoscopy procedures, where the dentures were pushed inside the stomach and taken out of the body with the help of Roth Net. Roth Net is a device used to remove objects from the body. The entire process took 15 minutes and the patient was discharged the same day as per hospital sources.
During the examination, it was found that the denture was stuck in the patient's stomach which caused injuries in his food pipe and stomach area.
Divulging further details about the complex surgery, Dr Shubham Vatsya, who led the procuedure, said that the circumference of the denture was 15 cm and due to its size, it was difficult to remove.
“However, the procedure was conducted under intravenous sedation, and we removed the denture through multiple gastrointestinal endoscopy (a procedure to diagnose). In the upper gastrointestinal tract, the denture is pushed inside the stomach and brought out of the body with the help of a Roth net (an instrument used to remove objects from the body)," Dr Vatsya Vatsya said.
He said that the patient was discharged the same day and is doing well now.
“If the denture had not been removed on time, it could have caused life-threatening complications - such as a hole in the stomach or intestines, which could have been fatal," he added,
Dr Gurvinder Kaur, Facility Director, Fortis Hospital Vasant Kunj, explained the challenges saying, "Considering the serious accident that happened to an elderly person, this was a challenging case. However, the expertise of Dr Shubham Vatsya and his team saved the life of the person."
