An insight into diagnosis of a hidden entity: Impacted food material

Foreign bodies and tissue reactions to foreign materials are commonly encountered in the oral cavity. Exogenous materials causing foreign body reactions may be metallic (amalgam) or nonmetallic (suture materials, vegetable matter). Implantation of food particles in the oral tissues has been known to cause reactive lesions such as oral pulse granuloma. Implantation could be through extraction sockets, deep periodontal pockets, associated with tumor growth, interdental areas of teeth, unfilled root canals, and grossly decayed teeth. These get rapidly digested and altered by host responses. Cellulose persists as hyaline material and invokes chronic granulomatous response. This change may mimic other pathologies.

Representative specimens from commonly consumed food groups were selected, fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin, processed, sectioned, stained with hematoxylin and eosin stain and observed under light microscope.

Each specimen revealed unique, distinct histology of each food type. The plant materials had a characteristic appearance of rigid double cell wall while rigid regular partitions containing nutrient material were revealed in seeds and beans. Starch-contained lentils exhibited clear spaces. Following is a brief description of some of the significant histological findings of each of the specimens processed and stained.

Thus, the study of histological structure of vegetables and legumes will enable their easy recognition in oral biopsy samples and help in distinguishing them from other pathologies and artifact.