Scan reveals disturbing find in patient's lung after mishap at dentist

No one likes going to the dentist, but nor would anyone ever expect the trip to go this badly.

Tom Jozsi, 60, had to undergo a rare medical procedure after he consumed a drill bit while in the dentist chair.

It was meant to be a standard filling procedure, but somewhere along the line he "inhaled" the piece of equipment.

"I didn't really even feel it going down. All I felt was a cough," he told Wisconsin-based news station WISN12 in the United States.

"When they did the CT scan they realised, you didn't swallow it. You inhaled it."

A CT scan showed the 2.5cm dental drill was lodged in Mr Jozsi's lung.

Doctors believe he inhaled just before he coughed, and the drill bit went deep into his airways. It was so deep that normal procedures were not able to retrieve it.

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Dr Abdul Alraiyes told the station it was "far down on the right lower lobe of the lung".

Mr Jozsi said he was told if they couldn't get the drill bit out, part of his lung would have to be removed.

It was decided by the doctors, including Dr Alraiyes, that a newer device would be used to remove the drill bit.

The device is usually used for early cancer detection. It is roughly the size of a catheter so the team were able to manoeuvre the device to retrieve the drill bit without harming Mr Jozsi.

"I was never so happy as when I opened my eyes, and I saw him with a smile under that mask shaking a little plastic container with the tool in it," Mr Jozsi told WISN 12.

The 60-year-old now has the drill bit on his tool shelf at home.

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