English firefighter Adam Martin, 41, ended up in the hospital and needed heart surgery after a popcorn cone jammed his teeth. The case took place in Cornwall, UK.
According to local newspaper Cornwall Live, the firefighter said he was alarmed by the corn stuck to the tooth. In an attempt to get rid of the discomfort, he pricked his gums with a pen cap, a piece of wire, and a nail.
With no corns in his gums, Adam began to feel excruciating pain, with flu-like symptoms such as sweating, fatigue, and headaches. With no indication of the cause of the symptoms, the firefighter headed to the hospital.
When he was examined, he was diagnosed with a heart murmur as a result of a bacterial infection such as endocarditis, an inflammation of the internal structures of the heart caused by an infectious agent.
“The doctors told me that if I hadn’t gone to the emergency room, I could have died in three days,” Adam told the newspaper.
Helen, Adam’s wife, posted the story on Facebook with the goal of alerting people to the infection. “Your gums are the entrance for bacteria into your heart. If you have any sign of a toothache, bleeding or abscess, see your dentist!”
“If I had gone to the dentist right away, none of this would have happened. It was the worst experience of my life,” said the firefighter, who is currently doing well.
