A Swedish woman accidentally swallowed a dental drill during surgery. The Independent newspaper reported that a 60-year-old- woman, whose name has been kept anonymous, was having dental implant surgery in Västerås, Sweden. During the surgery at the local Västmanland County Hospital a dental drill head came loose and fell into her mouth. Even though she was pulled into a sitting position, the drill fell into her throat and was swallowed.
"She tried to spit it out, and was made to cough, but she'd already swallowed," said Per Weitz, the medical chief at the hospital to the Swedish newspaper, The Local.
The woman was x-rayed after the incident and it appeared that the drill head which is three cm long was stuck in her lung. An immediate bronchoscopy was done to remove the drill head, reported The Independent. A tube was went in her lung with a camera while pliers grabbed the drill.
The Independent reported that it will take her a full month to recover from the incident, but she was allowed to leave the hospital the day after the surgery.
"What we've done at the clinic is to make sure everyone double checks that the drill is attached properly, and we've also introduced a routine of testing the drill in the air. That should be done before every procedure now," Weitz said to The Independent.
He added that mistakes are impossible to totally avoid, however.
"Unfortunately, drills are going to be dropped every now and then," he said to The Independent.
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