This emergency patient presented to my office with a chief complaint of his inability to utilize his denture due to an irritation. It appeared that there was a small irritated area on the lower left lingual  edentulous ridge. A radiograph of the area showed metal fragments and a broken embedded root tip .  So, this appeared to be more than just a denture adjustment. Local anesthesia was administered ( topical plus septocaine ) and a very conservative mucoperiosteal flap was elevated in the area of the  ulcerated lingual tissue. To my surprise there was no foreign object in this location. I raised another flap  encompassing the superior surface of the ridge and extending to the buccal avoiding the gingival tissues surrounding the adjacent bicuspid. The metal object was now visible and appeared to be  part of a metal post that had broken off when the attempted extraction of this tooth occurred a number of years back. Failure to remove this root tip along with the metal post at that time resulted in this patient having to  spend the time and money on this emergency visit.  The metal post fragment was removed  and a small diameter diamond bur was utilized to circumferentially excise the  bone surrounding this root tip. The root tip was then gently  dislodged. The flaps were closed with resorbable gut suture.

When I first saw this patient I took the radiograph next door for the opinion of the neighbor endodontist. He suggested that I refer this patient to an oral surgeon. He was unaware of my diligent study and training in the field of oral surgery. Though I am a general dentist, I’ve always tried to improve my skills thereby allowing me to provide a more expanded service for my patients and of course receive a fair fee.