A man's breathing problems were being caused by a tooth growing inside his nose (Representative Image)
A man who had breathing problems was stunned to discover the cause - a tooth growing inside his nose. According to a study published in the New England Journal Of Medicine, the 38-year-old man visited a clinic in Mount Sinai, New York, complaining of difficulty in breathing through his right nostril. He said that he had faced breathing problems for several years.
Initial examination found that the man had a deviated septum, which means that the bone and cartilage that divide the nasal cavity of the nose were displaced. The examination also found a calcified obstruction towards the back of the septum.
Further examination with a rhinoscope (an instrument for examining the inside of the nose) revealed that the man had a hard object in his nostril. It was finally a CT scan that revealed the surprising diagnosis - a tooth growing inside the nasal cavity.
In medical terms, the man had an "inverted ectopic tooth" growing inside his nose.
"On rhinoscopy, a hard, nontender, white mass was observed in the floor of the right nostril," physicians Sagar Khanna and Michael Turner wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine, as reported by Ladbible. "Computed tomography of the paranasal sinuses showed a well-defined, radiodense mass consistent with an inverted ectopic tooth in the nasal cavity."
Doctors were able to remove the tooth through oral and otolaryngologic surgery. "At follow-up three months after surgery, the patient's symptoms of nasal obstruction had resolved," the study revealed, adding that there were no post-operative complications. The patient is now able to breathe without issues.
Ectopic teeth are teeth that develop in the wrong position. According to Medical Xpress, ectopic teeth are extremely rare, occurring in just about 0.1% of the population.
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