Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata successfully extracted a tooth from the nasal cavity of a 29-year-old man

In a rare surgery, doctors at a Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata extracted a tooth from the nasal cavity of a 29-year-old Kolkata man, who works in UAE.

Mr. Obaidullah Ahsan had been suffering from cold, discharge from nose and headache for years. He started having intense pain a few months ago after the problem got aggravated. After he flew down to Kolkata last week for medical help, doctors found that a full-grown tooth in his nasal cavity was the trigger behind the problem. The tooth was finally extracted on November 19 and Ahsan flew back to his workplace in UAE.

Ahsan said that “I had consulted many doctors. Every time, they suggested that there was problem in the sinus and advised medication. But nothing eased my pain, headache and discomfort,”

On reaching Kolkata, he consulted doctors at the ENT unit of Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, where Dr. Shantanu Panja suggested a CT scan. The report detected a whitish mass and sinus infection in the nasal cavity. On extracting the mass through an endoscopic surgery on November 19, Panja found that it actually was a fully-grown tooth rooted in the nasal cavity.

“We had no inkling that the calcified mass could actually be a tooth because a CT scan cannot detect the same. It is an extremely rare case. The tooth was like an obstruction in the nasal cavity, triggering pain, discomfort in the nose and head and discharge from the nose,” said the ENT and Head and Neck Onco-Surgeon.

Doctors said that an extra tooth can show up mostly in the upper jawbone. But a tooth growing inside the nasal cavity is very rare and doctors are yet to find out the exact reason behind this. Ahsan had been suffering from the problem since his childhood.

“Of late, the pain, headache and the fluid discharge from my nose had pinned me down. It had become difficult to concentrate on work. After the surgery, I feel relieved for the first time in many years,” Ahsan said.

Patient got discharged two days after surgery and post follow-up visit flew back to his workplace in UAE.