New York man had trouble breathing, then doctors found a tooth growing in his nose

Chandigarh, February 23

A 38-year-old man visited a clinic in Mount Sinai, New York, complaining of difficulty in breathing through his right nostril. He said that he had faced breathing problems for several years.

The man later was stunned to find that a tooth was growing inside his nose.

According to a study published in the New England Journal Of Medicine, initial examination found that the man had a deviated septum, which means that the bone and cartilage that divide the nasal cavity of the nose were displaced. The examination also found a calcified obstruction towards the back of the septum.

Further examination with a rhinoscope (an instrument for examining the inside of the nose) revealed that the man had a hard object in his nostril. It was finally a CT scan that revealed the surprising diagnosis – a tooth growing inside the nasal cavity.

In medical terms, the man had an “inverted ectopic tooth” growing inside his nose.

On rhinoscopy, a hard, nontender, white mass was observed in the floor of the right nostril,” physicians Sagar Khanna and Michael Turner wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine, as reported by Ladbible.

Doctors removed the tooth through oral and otolaryngologic surgery.