A case of small-bowel obstruction secondary to inadvertent ingestion of impression material

Small-bowel obstruction (SBO) is responsible for approximately 12 to 16 percent of surgical hospital admissions and more than 300,000 operations annually in the United States. This has resulted in more than $2.3 billion in health care delivery per year. SBO is a serious complication, carrying a 10 percent risk of mortality.

The authors report a case of SBO resulting from inadvertent ingestion of polysulfide impression material. A 74-year-old man visited the emergency department with diffuse, nonradiating, colicky periumbilical pain. The patient was admitted to the general surgery service of the hospital, and after four days of supportive therapy without evidence of progression of the foreign body, he underwent an exploratory laparotomy. The authors later identified the foreign body as polysulfide impression material.

SBO is a rare but significant complication that can result from a procedure that clinicians perform on a routine basis. Dentists should consider this complication whenever they are concerned that a high-risk patient may have ingested dental materials.