Foreign body in infant hard palate: A report of a rare case and literature review

Abstract

Infants tend to place anything in their mouths; however, foreign bodies embedded in the hard palate of infants are extremely rare in clinical practice. Infants are often difficult to examine, and foreign bodies in the hard palate are misdiagnosed as neoplastic or inflammatory lesions in some cases. We present a rare case of a foreign body that was not diagnosed until its removal from the hard palate of an infant under general anesthesia. A healthy 12-month-old girl with a protruding foreign body on the hard palate was referred for close investigation. A white-yellow protruding foreign body measuring approximately 10 mm was found on the palate. Computed tomography revealed a radiopaque foreign body at the border. It was decided to examine and performed biopsy under general anesthesia, and the foreign body removed easily was an obviously plastic object with a semicircular shape and a brim around it. The histopathological examination of the abnormal gingiva under the foreign body revealed inflammatory granulation tissue. This report highlights the difficulty in diagnosing an infant with a foreign body in the hard palate and the safety of its removal under general anesthesia. Clinicians must consider the possibility of foreign bodies causing lesions on an infant’s hard palate. Therefore, careful examination and safe removal are necessary to prevent serious aspiration complications.