Caution: Remove False Teeth Before Surgery

Paris, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Aug, 2019 ) :This is the story of a 72-year old retired electrician in Britain -- let's call him "Jack" -- who forgot to tell his surgeon that he wore dentures.

Anyone reading this account of what happened next is unlikely to make the same mistake.

Six days after having a benign lump removed from his belly while under general anaesthesia, Jack turned up at the emergency room.

He complained of blood in the mouth, difficulty swallowing, and pain so intense that he couldn't eat solid food.

Noting a history of lung problems, doctors assumed he had a respiratory infection, according to BMJ Case Reports, a medical journal that describes medically noteworthy cases.

They prescribed mouthwash and antibiotics, and sent him on his way.

But two days later, Jack showed up again with worsened symptoms -- he couldn't even swallow his meds.

"He was also feeling short of breath, particularly when lying down, and had taken to sleeping upright," Harriet Cunniffe, an ear, nose and throat surgeon at Universities Hospitals NHS in Yarmouth noted.

The ER doctor suspected a type of pneumonia often caused by inhaling food or stomach acid into the lungs, and admitted Jack into hospital.

That's when a nasendoscopy -- a fibre optic camera on the end of a tube inserted through a nostril -- revealed a large, semicircular object covering his vocal cords.