Windshield safety glass foreign body masquerading as a root fragment.

A 42-year-old woman presented with a persistent radiopacity suggestive of an apparent root fragment after full dental clearance. This was caused by a foreign body lying within the buccal soft tissues. The foreign body was identified as a portion of soda-lime-silica glass which had penetrated during a road traffic accident but which had remained undetected for 6 years. Following its removal, further chemical analyses were undertaken to compare the radiographic characteristics of the windscreen glass in this case with other glass samples.