A stastistical study of 41 cases with denture foreign bodies in the air and upper food passages which were treated in our department during the past 21 years was done.
(1) Males were more frequently affected. The ratio of male to female was about 2 to 1.
(2) Of 41 dentures, 2, 2 and 37 were lodged in the air passages, hypopharynx and esophagus respectively.
(3) There were 5 complete mandibular dentures in 41 cases.
(4) The causes of the denture foreign bodies were originated to the problem of denture itself in 29 cases, that of the patient himself in 2 cases and both in 10 cases.
(5) Of 39 problematic dentures, 16 showed the breakage such as plate fracture and clasp deformity, but the other 23 showed no breakage. In this latter group, poor holding of the denture was ascribed to miss-making or miss-planning.
(6) Of 12 patients with problems in their physical function, 5 had suffered from cerebrovascular disease and 3 from geriatric dementia.
(7) The denture foreign body in aged patients with physical hypofunction tends to increase in recent years.
(8) Of 39 dentures tried to remove by esophagoscopy, 18 were done with difficulty and they were detatchable partial dentures with one artificial tooth and 2-arm-clasps lodged at the first and/or second isthmus of the esophagus. Though we have a denture removed successfully at the third trial, we have no case needed external esophagotomy.
(9) Duplicated denture models were made in 20 cases prior to the procedure, and we certify that these models play an important role for the safer removal of denture foreign bodies.