Accidental swallowing of a Protaper® file during root canal treatment

Simony Hidee Hamoy Kataoka, Flávio Moreira, Lisandro de Boutteville, Celso Luiz Caldeira, Oscar Faciola Pessoa

Objective: To demonstrate to the general practitioner the importance of the use of rubber dam during endodontic treatment through a case report where was described the monitoring employed with a patient who accidentally ingested a rotary file S1 ProTaper® (Dentsply Maillefer, Switzerland) during the root canal preparation. Case report: A 28 years-old patient underwent root canal treatment without rubber dam and during the root canal therapy, swallowed a ProTaper® S1. He was accompanied to the hospital where, at first, was performed a gastrointestinal high endoscopy and a CT scan. He remained asymptomatic after these two early interventions, was monitored over four days, through X-rays of chest and abdomen, until the foreign body was eliminated. Conclusion: General practitioners who do endodontics should be aware of the risks involved in swallowing and/or accidental aspiration of foreign bodies during endodontic treatment, and know how to avoid this problem by adopting a simple measure, the use of rubber dam.

Keywords: Deglutition. Rubber dams. Root canal preparation.

How to cite: Kataoka SHH, Moreira F, Boutteville L, Caldeira CL, Pessoa OF. Accidental swallowing of a Protaper® ile during root canal treatment. Dental Press Endod. 2011 July-Sept;1(2):89-93.

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