Man who struggled to breathe finds tooth growing in nose

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A man was left in shock when he was told that the reason he was struggling to breath through his right nostril was that he had a tooth growing in his nose. The 38-year-old went to a clinic after experiencing breathing problems through his nose for a number of years. On initial examination doctors found that he had a deviated septum, meaning that that the thin wall between his nostrils was displaced to one side. However the man reported no facial trauma or facial abnormalities. It was only after doctors performed a rhinoscopy that they discovered a white object lodged in his nostril. This turned out to be an ectopic tooth, which was growing in his nose. In medicine, the term ectopic is used to describe something that is in an abnormal place or position. The case was reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Sagar Khanna and Michael Turner. They wrote: "Physical examination of the nose showed a septal deviation, calcified septal spurs, and a 2-cm perforation in the posterior septum.