A dislodged tooth remained hidden in a Zenker’s Diverticulum: A case report

A Zenker’s diverticulum is the rarest type of gastrointestinal diverticulum and is located immediately above the upper esophageal sphincter. Here we report the case of a dislodged tooth that entered and remained hidden in a Zenker’s diverticulum, and combined use of endoscopy and X-ray fluoroscopy was useful for diagnosis and treatment. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a dislodged tooth located in a Zenker’s diverticulum in the perioperative period. Correspondence to: Yoshikazu Yamaguchi, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan, 3-9 Fukuura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-0004, Japan, Tel: +81-45-787-2918; Fax: +81-45-787-2916; E-mail: [email protected] Received: May 10, 2015; Accepted: June 10, 2015; Published: June 13, 2015 Introduction Perioperative dental injuries are disturbing events for anesthesiologists, and they occur in 0.02–0.07% of cases 1. It is extremely important to locate a dislodged tooth after injury because dental fragments have the potential to perforate the digestive tract. A Zenker’s diverticulum (ZD) is the rarest type of gastrointestinal diverticulum and is located immediately above the upper esophageal sphincter. Here we describe the case of a patient with a dislodged tooth that entered and remained hidden in a ZD. The tooth was successfully detected with endoscopy performed under fluoroscopic guidance but not with endoscopy alone. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a dislodged tooth located in a ZD in the perioperative period.