Affiliation:
1. Kings County Hospital Center Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Abstract
Needle separation is an unfortunate complication encountered during local anesthetic administration in dentistry. Attributing factors have been thought to be related to needle gauge, pre-injection needle bending, needle deflection, redirection, and depth of penetration. Various methods have been described for FB identification and retrieval. We present a case of a separated hypodermic needle in the infratemporal fossa after a posterior superior alveolar (PSA) nerve block. We describe the use of computed tomography (CT) navigation system with an expanded armamentarium of guided instrumentation. Utilization of our method can efficiently aid in the localization and removal of foreign bodies in the maxillofacial region.