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What Should Be Done After Swallowing A Tooth Retainer?

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Posted on Mon, 10 Feb 2014
Question: This is very strange, but a few nights ago, I think I swallowed my single tooth retainer. I had it by my vitamins so I would not forget to put it in that night. I didn't turn on the light and picked up the vitamins and took them. It felt like one of them got stuck in my throat. I ate a little bread and it went down. Then when I went to bed the retainer was gone. I think I swallowed it. That was 2 days ago. I am very worried about it. So stupid. What should I do? Is it dangerous?
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Answered by Dr. Dr. Ivan Romich (1 hour later)
Brief Answer: Hi and welcome to XXXXXXX Detailed Answer: Thanks for the query. In some cases it may be XXXXXXX but most commonly it passes through bowels and it is evacuated with stool. Usually, if patients visit doctor within 24 hours after swallowing some object, then it is recommended to do abdominal xrays and see is this object moving or it is stucked somewhere in intestinal tract. Since this was more than 2 days ago then probably it is already outside the body. So if you dont have any symptoms such as abdominal pain,bloating,blood in stool etc.,then I dont think that this can cause any serious consequances. If you notice these symptoms then you should visit doctor as soon as possible. If you want to be sure that this tooth retainer was defecated then you should do abdominal xray in consultation with your doctor. Wish you good health. Feel free to ask. Regards
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Dr. Dr. Ivan Romich

General Surgeon

Practicing since :2008

Answered : 13888 Questions

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What Should Be Done After Swallowing A Tooth Retainer?

Brief Answer: Hi and welcome to XXXXXXX Detailed Answer: Thanks for the query. In some cases it may be XXXXXXX but most commonly it passes through bowels and it is evacuated with stool. Usually, if patients visit doctor within 24 hours after swallowing some object, then it is recommended to do abdominal xrays and see is this object moving or it is stucked somewhere in intestinal tract. Since this was more than 2 days ago then probably it is already outside the body. So if you dont have any symptoms such as abdominal pain,bloating,blood in stool etc.,then I dont think that this can cause any serious consequances. If you notice these symptoms then you should visit doctor as soon as possible. If you want to be sure that this tooth retainer was defecated then you should do abdominal xray in consultation with your doctor. Wish you good health. Feel free to ask. Regards