We report on a 96-year-old woman in whom a wooden foreign body was found in the submandibular region. She was referred to our hospital because of submandibular swelling. History taking indicated that she fell down and hit the region around the left side of the mandible in the garden at home 5 days ago. At initial presentation, a laceration about 8 mm in length with pus discharge was found in the left mental region, accompanied by swelling and redness of the left submandibular region. The clinical diagnosis was wound infection. The patient was admitted to the hospital and given antibiotics with wound washing, but swelling and pus discharge continued. A remaining foreign body was suspected, and on day 9 of hospitalization we performed debridement from the submandibular region with the patient under local anesthesia and found a 50 × 7 mm wooden foreign body. The postoperative course was good, and she was discharged on day 16 of hospitalization. Diagnosis of this case was difficult because the laceration caused by penetration of the linear foreign body was too small, and the patient was an elderly woman injured alone and did not clearly understand the situation caused by the injury.
