An Australian rugby league player who went to his doctor with severe headaches was amazed to find he'd been living with an opponent's tooth embedded in his forehead for months, it was reported yesterday.
Ben Czislowski, a former National Rugby League prop playing for Brisbane team Wynnum, had a clash of heads with opposing forward Matt Austin during an April 1 match against Tweed Heads and had a headwound stitched up afterward,
Austin was left with a broken jaw and several missing teeth.
Czislowski told the Courier Mail newspaper in Brisbane that his wound was stitched up after the match and since then he had suffered shooting headaches, lethargy and an eye infection.
After trying to ignore the symptoms, the 24-year-old went to his doctor when he became concerned the constant pain and listlessness would force him to quit rugby league.
Czislowski said he was shocked when doctors told him the problem stemmed from a tooth that had been buried in his forehead just above his left eye.
"I can laugh about it now but the doctor told me it could have been serious with teeth carrying germs," Czislowski told Australian Associated Press.
"I feel so lucky that the worst that I got out of it was that my head looked uglier than it does normally," he said.
Czislowski said he was prepared to mail the tooth back to its rightful owner if it was wanted, but until he received a request, he was keeping hold of it as proof of his bizarre injury.
"I've got the tooth at home, sitting on the bedside table," he said. "If he [Austin] wants it back he can have it. I'm keeping it at the moment as proof that it actually happened," Czislowski said.
Amazingly, this is not the first time a player's body has played host to a foreign tooth.
In 2004, Australian rugby league hooker Shane Millard also had an opponent's tooth removed from his head while playing for English club Widnes.
Two years earlier, Australian Jamie Ainscough's arm became so badly infected while playing for Wigan in England there were fears it would be amputated before the source - an embedded tooth - was discovered.
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