Lost and found: foreign body in submandibular gland

A young adult male patient presented with the history of a retained foreign body in the oral cavity. The object in question was a stapler pin that got accidentally lodged while the patient tried removing food particles from his mouth 28 days earlier. Aside from intermittent pain upon digital palpation on the right side of the floor of his mouth, he was asymptomatic. Clinical examination was unremarkable. Plain radiography and a computed tomogram revealed a linear foreign body in the right submandibular gland. The patient underwent a submandibular gland excision, during which a 2 cm long stapler pin was retrieved. This case highlights that not all foreign bodies cause inflammatory reactions as a telltale sign of their presence.