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Many people fear a visit to the dentist but one woman was left traumatised when a dental drill came unstuck, fell down her throat and lodged in her LUNG.

The 60-year-old was undergoing dental implant surgery at a hospital in Sweden when the drill head, known as a burr, came loose and dropped into her mouth.

The woman, who was lying down at the time, was made to sit up immediately and cough, but the three-centimetre long metal part was already gone.

“She tried to spit it out, and was made to cough, but she’d already swallowed,” the hospital’s medical chief Per Weitz told Swedish news website, The Local.

The woman was immediately taken for an x-ray which revealed that the drill head had lodged in her right lung.

Doctors at Västmanland County Hospital, in Västerås, in central Sweden, performed an emergency bronchoscopy to remove the metal burr.

Dr Weitz added: “A pinky-sized tube was sent into her lung with a small camera and pliers to grab hold of the drill.”

The incident, which happened in September, came to light after it was reported to the National Board of Health and Welfare in Sweden.

Incidents must be reported in accordance with Lex Maria, the name given to regulations governing the reporting of injuries or incidents in the Swedish healthcare system.

The woman was able to return home the next day but spent a month recovering from her ordeal.

Dr Weitz told The Local that new safety procedures have been introduced, including testing dental drills in the air, to avoid similar accidents in future.

But he conceded: “Unfortunately, drills are going to be dropped every now and then.”