The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1902-10-22
ABLE SURGEONS ARE.
FOOLED By THE X-RAY
CAUSED NEEDLESS OPERATION ON A
MAN, AND HE MAY DIE.
Located False Teeth in His 0esophagus'
But They We're Found by Girl
Under His Bed.

A Cleveland, Ohio, dispatch says
that after having operated upon Frank
Buettner, who was thought 10 nave
swallowed his false teeth Tuesday
night, and carefully examining every
inch OF the oesophagus in search Tor
the troublesome articles, the teetn
were fouud-not by the surgeons, out
nv girl in the bedroom OF the SICK
man. AS the operation was nearing a
close and no trace of the teeth had
been discovered the doctors were as
,onnded when an attache of the hospl-
tal walked into the operating room
and handed the doctors the teeth
which had caused them so much trouo-
lie 10 locate.
Miss lilly Dilhoter: relative OF the
lSuettner family, heard of the predica-
ment in which Mr. Buettner tound
himself as a result of swallowing his
teeth, as he supposed, and after mature
deliberation she decided that Buettner
was suffering from some other cause
than that of swallowing his teeth she
also came to the conclusion that ne
had not swallowed the teeth at all.
Her reason for so thinking was that
she was convinced no one could swal-
low teeth in the manner Buettner
thought he had swallowed his.
on investigation Miss Dolhofer
found the teeth lying alongside of the
he'd, where it is thought they bad fall
en- during the night. AS aresu-t OF her
discovery there were two searches go
ing CD at the same time for the miss
ING false teeth, one at St. Alexis hos
pital in the oGsophagus OF the stricken
man and the other in the bedroom OF
Buettner's residence.
The surgeons had almost tinlshed
the operation before the discovery or
the teeth became known, and then 1T
was too late. However, it was not
necessary to perform the exceedingly
delicate operation of gastronomY, and
the sufferer was spared this added dis
tress, which, in Buettner's condition,
would almost certainly have resulted
in death. The discovery that Buett-
ner had not swallowed his false teeth,
as believed and az the X-ray eXamina-
tiun apparently showed, is all the more
remarkable for the reason that even
the surgeons themselves were decely-
ed. Once the obstruction in the
oesOphagus had been located and the
Roentgen ray was thought to have
done that conclusfvely, there was only
one course to pursue, and that was to
operate on the spot where 1he ray had
disclosed the trouble and remove the
obstruction which was causing the
patient such suffering.
The X-rays were applied by an ex-
pert. and the resulting plate showed
the teeth, or what the doctors thought
was evideLce of their presence, in the
oesOphagus next to the oriice leading
10 the stomach. Consequently an OF
Grafton was decided upon. Through
no fault of the surgeons, however, the
teeth were not found. 1t was diagnosed
at the operation that the troub-
le was due TO an acute attack OF
laryngitis, which came upon Buettner
suddenly 10 the night, and in the con
fusion which the attack caused Mr..
Buettner hastily jumped to the con-
clusiou that he mad swallowed his arti-
fetal teeth. Mr.. Buettner is nearing
20 years of age, and the shock of the
operation together with the serious
ness of the disease will probably cause
his death.