Denture Extraction

Dr. Patrick Fitzgerald is an ENT/Otolaryngologist who practices in the San Diego area. In June of 2010, while on call for emergency service at a local hospital, Dr. Fitzgerald was summoned to the emergency room to consult on treatment of an elderly patient who had been brought to the ER from a nursing home after swallowing his partial denture. The denture had been lodged in his upper airway for several hours, and the patient was in considerable distress. 

Upon gross examination of the patient, Dr. Fitzgerald notified the ER staff that an endoscopic surgical procedure would likely be necessary to locate and remove the denture, as the patient's upper airway was, by then, complicated by the presence of blood and other secretions. The denture was not visible with the ER's standard fiber optic laryngoscope due to its position in the larynx and considerable reflection and glare from the light source of the laryngoscope blade. 

Before beginning an endoscopic procedure, however, Dr. Fitzgerald decided to run back to his car, where he had an IntuBrite laryngoscope system in his trunk. Retrieving the kit, and utilizing an IntuBrite E-Classic handle and Macintosh 3 blade, he was able to access the patient's upper airway, visualize the denture and successfully grasp and remove it. 

"The view provided by the IntuBrite laryngoscope scope was superior", stated Dr. Fitzgerald. "Given the complexity of the case, I felt that the probability of success through a non-endoscopic approach with this patient was very low. However, the dual UV/white LED light yielded a brilliant view with minimal glare and feedback, and enabled visualization of the patient's airway with excellent depth and detail despite all of the fluids present. " 

"While I have used the IntuBrite system in numerous intubations with very good results in a wide variety of patient anatomies, through this experience in particular with a highly complicated airway, I now have no doubt that the performance of this system exceeds by far that of any other laryngoscope".