Sir, a 51-year-old patient was referred to the maxillofacial department by his general dental practitioner due to 'an object lodged between UL7 and UL8'. On attendance he gave no history of injury to the area, and was symptomless. On examination it was noted there was a small scar/blemish of the skin overlying this region; the remaining clinical examination was entirely normal. Radiographic evaluation in the form of an OPG radiograph was arranged. The resultant image displayed what was initially thought to be a radiopacity (with recurrent caries) associated with a heroic attempt at restoring UL8. Further examination and consideration revealed that this was not the case. A cone beam CT scan of the area was arranged, which revealed a metallic foreign object of a shape consistent with an air gun pellet. The suggestion of caries was entirely artefactual. The object was 8.5 mm by 5 mm in size and was positioned at the anterior body of the masseter muscle (just clear of its surface), 15 mm anterior to the mandibular ramus, at the level of the root apices of the maxillary molar teeth. The patient denied ever having sustained any such injury and wished to leave the foreign object in situ.

Figure 1
figure 1

OPG Showing foreign body in the UL8 region

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Figure 2
figure 2

Coronal cross sectional image of cone beam CT scan displaying foreign body position within soft tissues

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