Abstract
This case report describes a rare case of a broken periodontal probe tip and its removal. A male patient presented himself in June 2019 due to a painful tooth in the upper left quadrant. The patient elected treatment in the dental school’s student course. In October 2019, in preparation for full-mouth rehabilitation, a complete diagnostic status was performed, including radiographs. In this context, a metal-dense fragment was identified in the apical region of the (missing) tooth 45. It was diagnosed as the broken tip of a periodontal probe (type AE P OWB). Since a PCP-12 probe is generally used in-house, iatrogenic damage during the initial examination or student course could be excluded a priori. The patient was not able to remember any treatment that could be associated with the instrument’s breaking. Since the probe fragment was palpable and a translocation could not be precluded, the patient agreed to its removal under local anesthesia, after a cone-beam CT. This article describes and discusses this particular case, with special emphasis on iatrogenic instrument fractures and their removal.
Highlights
Several complications may occur during dental diagnosis and therapy, including the fracture of an instrument due to an improper application technique, undue force, material fatigue, or material-inherent defects
The iatrogenic injury of a dentist during treatment is described in a single case report; a percutaneous injury caused by a contaminated rotating low-speed instrument [3]
In the present case report, we present a rather unique and rare case of a broken periodontal
Summary
Several complications may occur during dental diagnosis and therapy, including the fracture of an instrument due to an improper application technique, undue force, material fatigue, or material-inherent defects. Severe consequences may arise from additional emphysema-causing secondary infection, obstruction of airway, pneumomediastinum and tension pneumothorax [4] resulting, for example, from using air-water cooled high-speed dental handpieces In any such events, the patient must be adequately informed: risks and benefits of potential removal options or the leaving of the instrument fragment in place must be highlighted and weighed against each other. In the present case report, we present a rather unique and rare case of a broken periodontal probe probe far away of the original area of application, i.e., the marginal periodontium. The single tooth X-ray taken in our clinic in December 2019 clearly identified the broken periodontal probe in two dimensions (Figure 3). (Michigan O with Williams Markings), led us to suspect that it was a broken periodontal probe tip Figure 2.
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