Dental implant in sinuses
A 57-year-old woman in Italy who went to the doctor with inflamed sinuses and facial pain had an unusual diagnosis: a dental implant in the sinus.
The woman had undergone oral surgery about two years before to place an implant — a 2-centimeter long (0.79 inch) metal screw designed to hold in place a replacement for a missing tooth — in her upper jaw. But surprisingly, an inspection of her mouth revealed the implant was not there. A CT scan showed the implant to be in her sinus cavity, next to her left eye. The researchers performed surgery to remove the dental implant, after which the woman's sinus symptoms went away.
It's possible that the implant did not properly integrate into the woman's jawbone, causing it to migrate into the sinus soon after the procedure, experts say.
Brain tumor with teeth
A 4-month-old infant in Maryland was found to have teeth form in his brain as a result of a specific type of rare brain tumor.
The child underwent brain surgery to have the tumor removed, during which doctors found that the tumor contained several fully formed teeth, according to a report of the case.
After an analysis of tumor tissue, doctors determined the child had a craniopharyngioma, a rare brain tumor that can grow to be larger than a golf ball, but does not spread.
Researchers had always suspected that these tumors form from the same cells involved in making teeth, but until now, doctors had never seen actual teeth in these tumors, said Dr. Narlin Beaty, a neurosurgeon at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
