Infants invariably experiment by putting things into their mouth. This report describes four cases of foreign bodies found in the mouths of infants, in which the foreign bodies did not cause injury because they did not enter the body.
A fused bead covered the lower anterior tooth crown of a seven-month-old female baby and a cylindrical piece of vinyl covered the upper anterior tooth crown of a two-year-old girl. In both cases, their mothers noticed that their children's teeth had some problems, but did not know what was happening.
A zipper slider was stuck between the teeth of a two-year-old boy. In this case, his mother was unable to remove the zipper slider.
A conical plastic cap was stuck in the premaxillary palate of a nine-month-old female baby. At first, her parents suspected the sudden appearance of bone in the mouth.
In each case, the foreign body was removed safely without any complications. However, accidental ingestion or aspiration could occur if the foreign bodies remained undiscovered by guardians or fell into the throat. Also, prolonged contamination could lead to dentoalveolar trauma in some cases.
These cases are peculiar to infants, and are far less likely in adults. To prevent this kind of accident, information and guidance should be disseminated more widely to guardians.
