Swallowed Dental Wax/Putty During Dental Impression

[rocio1]

Yesterday, my mother had a dental impression made for her dentures. The dental assistant began to insert the impression, which was over-filled with wax or putty, I'm not exactly sure what the material consists of. Needless to say, my mother began to gag/choke from this material. She ended up swallowing some of this wax/putty. It was stuck in her throat/sternum area. An hour after the appointment, she was eating, when suddenly she felt the wax/putty going down. My question is, is this wax/putty dangerous if swallowed?

Is it possible that the wax/putty can or has hardened inside my mother's stomach?  By the way, what is the correct name/terminology for this type of dental impression material?  

Any information you can provide me with is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your response.

Rocio

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

Also, here's the website link to the material.  They should all be pretty similar despite brand.  But again, this is if they used alginate.  They may have used another material.

http://www.caulk.com/assets/pdfs/products/JelDLmsds.pdf

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

I don't know what material they may have used for her denture impression.  Most likely they used an alginate based material.  Alginate is a derivative from a brown algae that is made into powder form and mixed with water to produce a soft mix before it hardens inside the mouth.  

I looked up the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for Jeltrate Dustless Alginate Impression Material and under emergencies, it states that ingestion (swallowing it) that "Material is probably not harmful is swallowed" and "Low order of toxicity is expected when material is ingested."  

If you want to, you may want to schedule your mom for a consultation with a GI (gastrointestinal) specialist to see what they may have to say about it.

Hope that helps.  As with anything, if she has symptoms or any problems, she should definitely see a doctor right away.