SINGAPORE: A Singaporean businessman who felt a persistent pain in the left side of his face went to see a dentist, thinking it was a toothache. He was surprised to discover that the source of his pain was actually a metal bar hidden beneath his skin.

When The New Paper interviewed the businessman, 55 year old Ye, he said that the left side of his face began to hurt 2 months ago. He thought it was a toothache and went to a polyclinic in Geylang, where an x-ray was taken.

The x-ray report gave him a shock: there was a 2 centimetre long metal bar hidden beneath his skin. He said: "When I heard the news I was dumbfounded. I had no idea what that metal bar could be, and how it could have ended up where it was."

His doctor was equally astonished, and asked Ye if he had previously undergone any form of dental operation.

Ye informed him that he had undergone an operation for his dentures, however, the dentist thought that this sort of surgery was unlikely to have introduced a metal bar beneath his skin. This was because most dental operations do not require a 2cm long metal bar.

Ye has already spent S$6000 (around RM12,000) on an operation to remove the metal bar. Due to the filthy air around his factory, he currently goes to work wearing a filter mask to prevent breathing in pollutants that might adversely affect his recovery.

Metal Bar May Have Lain Undiscovered Inside Sinus For Several Years

Mrs. Ye said that when the doctor discovered the metal bar tucked away in her husband's sinus, he had asked Ye if it was something he had slipped inside his nose as a child and then forgotten completely about it when he was growing up.

She found the idea hard to believe, wondering how a metal bar could have lain hidden in her husband's sinus without being noticed. Wouldn't the metal bar cause him pain?

An ear, nose and throat specialist from General Hospital explained in an interview that although such a scenario was unlikely, it was not entirely impossible.

"If the metal bar was hidden inside the sinus, the patient would not feel any pain, as the sinus is just a hollow cavity. Even if a foreign object was introduced within, it would not necessarily cause an infection. Sores had surrounded the metal bar in Ye’s body, which is a sign of infection."

A Scan Could Be Fatal

If Ye had gone for a scan without knowing there was a metal bar in his body, the result could have been fatal, as the metal bar might have split his face open.

A radiologist who had been interviewed said that a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner uses magnetic and radio waves to create a detailed image of a human body and determine if there were any tumours.

He said that if a metal bar had been present inside the body, the scanner would heat the bar, harming the body and even causing flesh and skin to split.

In most cases, before conducting a scan, most people employed in high risk occupations such as miners and welders would have to answer a series of tests to ensure they did not have any metallic items embedded in their bodies.