Woman Chokes To Death After Accidentally Swallowing Dentures In Sleep

A 48-year-old woman in Colombia died after she accidentally swallowed her dental prosthesis while sleeping.

The victim has been identified as María Farías Guzmán of the Armenia region. Guzmán did not follow the doctor's recommendation to remove dentures at night, which led to the accident, Oddity Central reported.

The woman went to sleep with her dental prosthesis in her mouth, following which the dentures reportedly got lodged in her throat somehow. Her family told local media they heard unusual noises coming from her room on the night of the incident. When they went to check on her, they saw Guzmán was unable to breathe normally.

She was immediately rushed to a hospital in her home city of Quindio. Doctors tried to resuscitate the woman and clear her airways. However, the respiratory tract obstruction caused her death, doctors said.

"Her relatives became aware of the situation while she was sleeping, but she arrived at the hospital with no vital signs and staff performed resuscitation maneuvers and procedures to clear her airways, but she did not respond," William Alberto Zubieta Pardo, of the Quindio police department, told Eltiempo [Google Translate showed].

Chocking on dental prostheses is considered extremely rare.

A similar incident took place last year in India, when a 43-year-old woman died after accidentally swallowing her artificial tooth while drinking water. The woman, identified as S Rajalakshmi, had replaced three front teeth with artificial ones seven years before the tragic accident. The woman belonged to the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Rajalakshmi was rushed to a hospital after she felt dizzy and nauseous. Doctors conducted a few tests and determined that there was nothing alarming. However, the following day, the woman fainted and died, while on the way to the hospital.

Oral pathologists said at the time that such incidents usually do not result in deaths. However, if dentures reach the air pipe instead of the food pipe, it can be fatal as it could damage tissues in the air pipe, causing bleeding or asphyxiation. "Usually, acrylic removable dentures are liable to cause more damage when swallowed as they have metal clasps," said Dr. SM Balaji, an oral surgeon, at the time.