[The_Neon_Cowboy]

LITTLETON, Colo. — A dentist found the source of the toothache Patrick Lawler (search) was complaining about on the roof of his mouth: a four-inch nail the construction worker had unknowingly embedded in his skull six days earlier.

A nail gun backfired on Lawler, 23, on Jan. 6 while working in Breckenridge (search), a ski resort town in the central Colorado mountains. The tool sent a nail into a piece of wood nearby, but Lawler didn't realize a second nail had shot through his mouth, said his sister, Lisa Metcalse.

Following the accident, Lawler had what he thought was a minor toothache and blurry vision. On Wednesday, after painkillers and ice didn't ease the pain, he went to a dental office where his wife, Katerina, works.

"We all are friends, so I thought the (dentists) were joking ... then the doctor came out and said 'There's really a nail,"' Katerina Lawler said. "Patrick just broke down. I mean, he had been eating ice cream to help the swelling."

He was taken to a suburban Denver hospital, where he underwent a four-hour surgery. The nail had plunged 11/2 inches into his brain, barely missing his right eye, Metcalse said.

"This is the second one we've seen in this hospital where the person was injured by the nail gun and didn't actually realize the nail had been embedded in their skull," neurosurgeon Sean Markey told KUSA-TV in Denver. "But it's a pretty rare injury."

Lawler was recovering Sunday in the hospital, where he was expected to spend several more days.

Despite his lack of medical insurance and hospital bills between $80,000 and $100,000, Katerina Lawler said her husband is in good spirits.

"The doctors said, 'If you're going to have a nail in the brain, that's the way you want it to be,"' she said. "He's the luckiest guy, ever."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,144539,00.html

Also it's not the 1st reported such case either it's the second there was another simular case this year! I belive it's http://www.nbc10.com/news/2749809/detail.html

thats just wacked out!

[Callandor]

Hey man, due to the low response rate to this thread, I'd say just about everyone's already gotten used to the idea of finding nails in peoples heads!!!!!!

[Asmodeus]

WOW thats pretty bizzare that he wouldnt have felt it going in.

[Dom]

Originally Posted by The_Neon_Cowboy

Also it's not the 1st reported such case either it's the second there was another simular case this year! I belive it's http://www.nbc10.com/news/2749809/detail.html

thats just wacked out!

That's not the other case.

[dj_stick]

strange

[MIG-31]

just how can you miss a nail in the mouth,don't know how painful it would be as toothache is bad enough!!

also if using a nail gun,surely it would be pointing away from the user,unless it bounced back.

[Sargentwhitey]

I still can't see how you couldn't notice such a thing... its sort of like stepping on a nail and walking around with it for days without knowing it...

[Son_of_Thunder]

my dad is a pediatrition (probably mispelled that, he's a doctor that specializes in children) and one day he was called into work because a patient of his was in the ER for an unexplained wound to both sides of his head. when dad got there it turned out the kid had been shot through the head, and didn't have a clue about it until someone noticed the bleeding.

i'm fairly sure the kid died though, but i don't remember. i think i was about 7 when it happened.

[fireball]

Originally Posted by MIG-31

just how can you miss a nail in the mouth.

Just what I was thinking, Ouch.

[tastyweat]

holy crud... lol

[The_Neon_Cowboy]

I'm guessing speed at wich it flew in and that hed been julted (skard sh**tless) and maybe since it was in his brain it scewed something up so he didn't feel it porperly

i dunno.....

[Dom]

The brain has no pain receptors.

[kemet64]

The brain doesnt, no....but...how the hell would he not feel it going in? And wouldnt it bleed lol. Mahn this is an odd story.

[Senor_Mota]

Cool!

[Dom]

Pain sensors around the scalp are not as sensitive as other parts of the body, that coupled with the speed at which the nail entered the skull could explain the reason why he didn't feel the initial entry of the nail. As for bleeding, in general the head doesn't bleed that much, with exception of certain areas on the face, also, puncture wounds do not bleed much altogether. With freak accidents such as this, it is often a series of bizzar coincidences that can explain its occurrence if the first place.

[craig5320]

There was one in the UK that made frontpage with an x-ray scan of the picture, bout a year ago now, the gun had struck the guy on the head after it fell from a ladder, and he didn't realise it'd fired. Can't find the picture on the net tho

[GutterPunk]

Good Ole Coloradans... prolly another constructino worker high on meth if you ask me

[MythicaL]

Here's a picture of it:

[md5]

hell
scary stuff :|

[mainman]

Originally Posted by MythicaL

Here's a picture of it:

Holly F**k!!!

[md5]

update on the story:
this guy is facing a $100,000 headache now

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050118/80/faju0.html

*ouch*

[DirtyRussian]

Holy f**k!!

[yoda133113]

How do you not feel either the hole in the top of your mouth or the head of the nail in the top of your mouth.

[The_Neon_Cowboy]

look at that s***!!!

[riles9262]

Wow, and I thought my cavities were bad...

[Vikingod]

The same thing happened to my peni... nevermind