Swallowed dentist's drill!
She swallowed a dentist's drill!
Tuesday 16th September 2008
Having someone poke about in your mouth is never pleasant, but as I lay back in the dentist's chair, I only had myself to blame. A day earlier, I'd been crunching on a mint humbug when I'd knocked a filling out. So now, I was with Dr Afsaneh Rasti Mobarekeh at Central Dental Practice in Blackburn, having it looked at.
'It was this tooth,' I said, pointing to one in front of my top molars.
She rummaged around for a bit, then the drill whirred into life, and I closed my eyes…
As the metal hit my tooth, I felt a sharp pain and a rush of water.
'It hurts!' I gurgled.
'I didn't think you'd need anaesthetic,' she shrugged.
Thanks for caring …
The drill ground at my tooth then, suddenly, something sharp scratched the back of my throat.
Sitting bolt upright, I spat into the sink.
'Where's it gone?' the dentist frowned. 'You've swallowed it.'
'My filling?' I gasped.
'No,' she said. 'The end of the drill.'
I was so horrified, I didn't know what to say. I just sat there in utter amazement as the dentist dashed to reception and came back with a letter. Patient has swallowed an inch-long drill bit.
'It might have got in your lung,' she explained. 'You need to get it checked.'
It was so bizarre, I didn't know what to do. Plus, it didn't actually hurt. So, not wanting to cause a fuss, I went home and assumed it would come out when I went to the loo. That evening, I was hit with agonising stomach pains. I didn't say anything to my son, Scott, 23, because I didn't want to worry him, but that night, I hardly slept a wink. Next morning, I went to my GP, who sent me to Blackburn Royal Infirmary for an X-ray.
Afterwards, the doctor talked me through it.
'The drill bit's in your intestines,' he said. 'Go home and wait for it to pass naturally.'
Problem was, my tooth still needed fixing. So after three days of toothache and stomach ache, I plucked up the courage to go back to the dentist. Just walking through the door made me feel sick with dread.But thankfully, this time, it was far less eventful. I saw a different dentist this time and within 30 minutes, he'd replaced the filling for free and I was on my way.
Unfortunately, the pains in my stomach weren't so easily sorted.
As the days passed, I started weeing blood. When I went back to see my GP, 10 days later, he sent me straight back to hospital.
'Don't leave until the drill bit's out of your body,' he ordered. 'It could cause serious internal damage.'
This time, the hospital admitted me and gave me laxatives. But after a week, there was still
no sign of the bloomin' drill bit. So there was nothing else for it.
'We'll feed a camera into your stomach to see what's going on,' the doctor decided.
I was given a general anaesthetic and taken down to theatre. The surgeon made a four-inch incision in my stomach, but four hours later, I awoke to yet more bad news.
'We've found the drill bit,' the surgeon explained. 'But it was too risky to remove it in case it split your bowels.'
'So what now?' I groaned.
'We'll keep you in until it passes naturally,' he replied.
We were going round in circles!
Even though I was on morphine, the pain was excruciating. 'What if it won't come out?' I cried. No one could answer that. So in the meantime, I stayed in hospital and kept taking laxatives. Every day, the nurses checked the bedpan to see if it'd come out. Finally, a few days later, on 11 July, a nurse brought me a bedpan during the night. I felt a sudden pain in my bottom, and although I didn't hear a clanking sound, I just knew.
'It's gone!' I cried, delighted.
We couldn't see it, so to be sure, I had an X-ray. I sagged with relief when it was confirmed.
The pain was gone too, but the scar on my stomach was a lasting reminder of what had happened. A month later, my luck took a turn for the better when I met Paul Coyle, 47, in an internet chatroom. Last May, we got married on the beach in Mauritius, and two months later, I accepted £6,250 in an out-of- court settlement. The dentist didn't admit liability, but to be honest, I didn't care. I'm just glad it's over. No one really likes going to the dentist, but I never imagined my visit it would end up with me on the operating table. It was enough to put me off humbugs for good!
Susanne Berr, owner of Central Dental Practice, says: 'Dr Mobarekeh was a self-employed dentist, was not an employee of the practice and no longer works on our premises. There was no issue with the equipment used at our practice and on our premises. It was a matter between the dentist and patient.'