Hiding in Plain Sight: Clinically Unrecognized Fatal Tooth Asphyxia Revealed by the Forensic Autopsy

Fatal asphyxia by choking whether by food or foreign material remains an uncommon occurrence affecting mainly those at the extremes of age and with variable and sometimes misleading clinical presentations. Prompt clinical recognition of impending airway obstruction afforded by complete physical examination and assessment is paramount for prevention of morbidity and mortality in these cases. In the elderly, a death initially presenting with sudden cardiorespiratory collapse may be erroneously certified as due to natural disease without performance of an autopsy. Fortunately, deaths subsequent to cardiorespiratory collapse, where results of the clinical work-up fail to identify an etiology and medical history is insufficient, are reportable, falling under the jurisdiction of the medical examiner/coroner. The performance of an autopsy in the evaluation of a sudden death arising after hospitalization in which the etiology remains unclear can provide valuable information to our clinical colleagues that they can apply to more timely diagnosis and treatment. Furthermore, the forensic autopsy offers clarification and answers to questions of medicolegal importance. This is particularly true for choking deaths. Presented is a choking death after tooth aspiration whereby the forensic autopsy provided specific anatomic correlation to the clinical clues not recognized before death and provided the true cause of death.