2018 Volume 39 Issue 1 Pages 56-63
In infants, oral injuries caused by chopstick or toothbrush are frequently observed at overturning. Several cases in which the objects penetrated deeply to reach the cranium or cervical spinal cord and in turn causing difficulties in accessing the remaining pieces of the foreign bodies have been reported. Some reports have described that blunt injuries caused by foreign bodies that did not penetrate led to emphysema or deep neck infection. Cases of tardive obstruction of the internal carotid artery have also been reported. Therefore, informed consent and careful observation are clinically significant in oral injury cases.
In this case report, we present two pediatric cases of oral injuries caused by chopsticks penetrating deeply to the head and neck and review the current literature regarding this type of cases. In one case, a foreign body reached in front of the clivus under the nasopharynx membrane and caused retropharyngeal cellulitis; the object was removed via the endoscopic transnasal approach. In the other case, a foreign body was located in the carotid space, which caused emphysema; the object was removed via external dissection. Both patients were discharged without any complications.
