In dentistry, oral rehabilitation using dental implants has gained more popularity among patients and dentists because of dispelling some drawbacks and limitations of traditional prostheses. Even though this treatment is generally considered to be safe, implants can also have various problems and complications such as damaging adjacent neurovascular bundles like inferior alveolar and mental, infection, and migration (i.e., displacement) to abutting anatomical spaces.1 Maxillary, ethmoid, and sphenoid sinuses, cranial fossae, orbital floor, and nasal cavity are reported sites of implant migration.2–6 There have been many cases of dental implants migrating into the maxillary sinus, while instances of displacement into other craniofacial tissues are sporadic.5 Implant migration into the nasal cavity is extremely rare. As far as we know, to this day, only four studies in the literature have reported this unique complication. It has been decades since implants became a frequent routine procedure in everyday dental practice. Regarding this high application rate, only four reported occurrences of this complication indicate the rarity of this condition. Migrated implants could damage vital organs and cause severe or life-threatening injuries. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the exact coordinates of migrated implants to extract them securely and quickly. Because of the complicated anatomy of paranasal sinuses and nasal cavity, conventional radiographic approaches fail to depict the exact situation, and further advanced imaging techniques are required. These imaging modalities necessitate professional interpreting and previous encounter with comparable scenarios in the field.
Here we report a clinical case of migration of an implant into the nasal cavity, which was discovered when taking three-dimensional (3D) radiographs to find it after displacement into the maxillary sinus.