An autopsy case of prolonged asphyxial death caused by the impacted denture in the esophagus.

A foreign body impacted in the esophagus is not a rare incident among adults or children. In adults, a dental prosthesis is prone to become impacted in the esophagus. The diagnostic difficulty of this often causes a delay in its removal, which can lead to serious complications, including death. This report describes the autopsy case of a man who died of prolonged asphyxiation induced by the delayed removal of an impacted denture, which was misdiagnosed on his first visit notwithstanding that a part of the denture could be seen on X-rays. Cases in which an impacted denture led to death have rarely been reported in contrast to numerous papers about recovered cases. Copyright Â