A 65-year-old woman treated years earlier for squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity spent 15 days with fever, cough, and worsening breathlessness before anyone identified the cause. By the time she reached a hospital in respiratory distress, her oxygen saturation had fallen to 85 percent on room air and blood gas analysis showed type I respiratory failure. A chest radiograph pointed to her left main bronchus.
Two of her own teeth had ended up in her airway.
