Doctors at Ho Chi Minh City’s Cho Ray Hospital recently removed a set of false teeth made of plastic which had been stuck in a patient’s windpipe in the last 6 years.

L.V.M., 32, from the coastal city of Vung Tau had his jawbone broken in an accident six years ago. At the time he thought the denture was lost somewhere on the street. Little did he know it had slipped down his throat and got stuck in the trachea.

In June, M came to the Respiratory Care Center of the HCMC Medical and Pharmaceutical University Hospital to have a checkup due to shortness of breath, cough and sputum. Earlier he was diagnosed with asthma at the Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital and received treatment but the situation didn’t get better.

At the Respiratory Care Center, M. was diagnosed with bronchitis. After a three-month treatment, his symptoms of cough and shortness of breath did not improve much. Doctors then instructed him to take endoscopic and CT scanner, after which the denture was found lying at the end of his trachea.