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What began as a routine dental visit landed an Illinois man in the hospital. Tom Jozsi was in the chair getting a tooth filled breathed in, and swallowed a dental drill bit. Doctors believe that inhaling just before he coughed sent the metal object deep into the 60-year-old maintenance worker’s airways. It was so deep that normal scopes couldn’t reach it.
Doctors believe that inhaling just before he coughed sent the metal object deep into the 60-year-old maintenance worker's airways.
It was so deep, pulmonary expert Dr. Abdul Alraiyes said, that normal scopes couldn't reach it.
"What happens if he can't get it out? And really the answer really was, part of my lung was going to have to get removed," Jozsi said.
A pulmonology team decided to try a newer device, one not designed for removing foreign objects. That worked and now Jozsi has the drill bit in little plastic container in his home. The bit was in his lung for four days. The doctor who removed it said he has heard from colleagues in Michigan and Ohio who reported seeing cases nearly identical to this one.