A 38-year-old man who was having trouble breathing was left shocked after doctors found he had a tooth growing in his nose.
The patient visited a clinic after struggling with breathing problems through his nose for a number of years.
Doctors examining him found he had a deviated septum – leaving the thin wall between his nostrils displaced to one side – despite the man reporting no facial abnormalities or trauma.
But when they performed a rhinoscopy, they made the grim discovery of a white object in his right nostril.
Bizarrely, it turned out to be an ectopic tooth growing in his nose.
The case was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine by Sagar Khanna and Michael Turner.
They wrote: “Physical examination of the nose showed a septal deviation, calcified septal spurs, and a 2-cm perforation in the posterior septum.
“On rhinoscopy, a hard, nontender, white mass was observed in the floor of the right nostril (Panel A).
“Computed tomography of the paranasal sinuses showed a well-defined, radiodense mass consistent with an inverted ectopic tooth in the nasal cavity (Panel B, arrow), which was thought to explain the obstructive symptoms and septal perforation.
“The tooth was removed during oral and otolaryngologic surgery by means of an intranasal approach and measured 14 mm in length. There were no postoperative complications.
“At follow-up three months after surgery, the patient’s symptoms of nasal obstruction had resolved.”
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