Doctors find tooth lodged in former miner’s ear
Doctors have been left mystified after finding a tooth lodged in a man’s ear.
Stephen Hirst, an ex-miner, suffered from excruciating earache for 33 years and was partially deaf because a tooth was lodged in his ear canal, it has been revealed. The 47 year old also suffered severe headaches and was unable to sleep properly for several years. Despite numerous visits to his GP and various ear, nose and throat units, nobody could find the cause of Mr Hirst’s pain until he gave it one last shot and arranged to see a doctor at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield.
The team at the hospital was determined to unearth the cause of the pain and the tooth was finally removed using a suction tube and a pair of tweezers. The nurse in charge of the procedure was apparentyly completely shocked to find a tooth in Mr Hirst’s ear canal and doctors are puzzled as to how the tooth managed to end up in the ear. The situation is made all the more mysterious because Mr Hirst has not had any teeth for several years.
The nurse said the tooth was likely to be a baby tooth as it was not big enough to be an adult tooth. Mr Hirst was also shocked to learn that the cause of 33 years worth of severe pain was a baby tooth and claimed that he had no idea how the tooth had got there. He said the only explanation was that he put the tooth down his ear as a young boy.
Now that the tooth has been removed, Mr Hirst no longer suffers from head or earaches and is much happier. He is partially deaf but has been able to get back to his normal life and is completely pain-free. He has kept the tooth as a souvenir.
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