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FOREIGN bodies of dental origin in the respiratory and alimentary tracts create situations that may be hazardous. On occasion, dental appliances, such as root-canal broaches, files and reamers, fractured rubber-dam clamps and forceps beaks, accidentally may be dropped in the mouth and become lodged in the trachea or the esophagus. It is likewise true that gold crowns and inlays may be displaced and similarly be lodged in these tracts. Again, teeth broken in the process of extraction or teeth that may slip from forceps during removal may be forced into the pharynx and gain entrance to the trachea or esophagus. The recovery of these objects by the endoscopist entails no small degree of skill.
Of greater concern is the accidental displacement of oral prostheses or parts thereof and subsequent lodgment of these foreign bodies in the alimentary or respiratory systems. For the most part, these dental restorations are partial denture