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Learning from errors
CASE REPORT
Iatrogenic displacement of high-speed bur during third molar removal
  1. Jothi Raamahlingam Rajaran1,
  2. Abd Jabar Nazimi2,
  3. Rama Krsna Rajandram3
  1. 1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry UKM and UKM Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  2. 2Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry UKM and UKM Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  3. 3Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry UKM and UKM Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  1. Correspondence to Dr Jothi Raamahlingam Rajaran, jothiraamahlingam{at}gmail.com

Summary

Surgical removal of impacted mandibular third molar is a routine procedure in oral surgery. Various iatrogenic complications related to the procedure has been discussed well in the literatures before. Some of these complications are related to the wrong usage of instruments and techniques. Here we discuss a rare complication on a 42-year-old male, related to the use of high-speed handpiece drill in mandibular third molar removal in a general dental office setting. He was referred when a high speed tungsten carbide bur was accidentally broken and displaced into the mandibular bone during surgical procedure. It is not common to use a high-speed handpiece in impacted third molar removal. This iatrogenic complication could have been totally avoided with the use of proper equipment and technique; therefore raising awareness regarding wrong usage of instrument is vital to avoid similar incidents in the future.

  • oral and maxillofacial surgery
  • dentistry and oral medicine

https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2017-221892

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    Footnotes

    • Handling editor Seema Biswas

    • Contributors The case was managed by JRR under the supervision of MNAJ and RKR. All the authors contributed equally in the thought process and writing of this paper.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.