“Thought it was lung cancer and removed a tumor, but...” A 72-year-old man’s lung yields a ‘tooth lost three years ago’ [Warning Signs]

[Financial News]  A man in his 70s had suffered for months from a persistent cough and recurring respiratory infections. Antibiotics brought only temporary relief. Detailed tests revealed a red mass completely blocking a bronchus, and doctors strongly suspected malignant lung cancer. But the moment they removed the tumor through an endoscope, an utterly unexpected, hard white object suddenly dropped out. It was the man’s ‘tooth,’ which had vanished without a trace three years earlier.
A bizarre case of foreign-body aspiration reported by doctors at St. Elisabethen Hospital in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, was published on the 31st of last month in the international journal The Egyptian Journal of Bronchology.
The 72-year-old man had been suffering from an intermittent cough with phlegm and recurring lower respiratory tract infections. A chest computed tomography (CT) scan showed that a bronchus in the lower part of his right lung was completely blocked and severely inflamed. A subsequent bronchoscopy revealed a smooth mass threaded with red blood vessels. The doctors suspected a ‘bronchial carcinoid tumor,’ which arises from neuroendocrine cells, and moved to remove it immediately.
But as they removed the red tissue with a snare and a cryoprobe, a hard white object that did not adhere readily to the instruments was caught and pulled out.
The object, which they managed to extract with forceps, turned out to be a human ‘tooth.’ There were no cancer cells. The tooth had been lodged in the lung for three years, irritating the surrounding tissue and causing chronic inflammation and granulation tissue to grow. This had formed a disguise that made it look like a red tumor.
The mystery was solved by the patient’s medical history.
Three years earlier, the man had suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed, and one of his broken teeth went missing at the time. He had thought he had simply lost the tooth, but in fact, while he was unconscious, it had entered his airway and traveled down the broad, vertically oriented right bronchus, becoming lodged deep in his lung.
Fortunately, once the tooth was successfully removed, the completely blocked bronchial passage reopened, and his severe cough and infection symptoms vanished.
The researchers advised, “In adults, a foreign object entering the airway may not cause obvious symptoms at first if the person is unconscious or some space remains in the airway,” and added, “If unexplained coughing or pneumonia keeps recurring, it is essential to check for the possibility of foreign-body aspiration, including a history of tooth injury or fainting.”
The fact that a tooth thought to be simply lost had been gnawing away at my lungs for three years, masquerading as ‘lung cancer,’ is a bitter and harrowing episode brought about by the body’s remarkable ability to adapt.


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