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To ask older people about loose or ill-fitting dentures is not common practice during a hospital admission. Our patient presented to the emergency department following a primary respiratory arrest. A dislodged denture was extracted from the hypo-pharynx under local anaesthesia and was presumably the cause of the respiratory arrest. Any delays in finding the missing denture and its extraction could have resulted in the patient being given a general anaesthetic and its associated complications. We suggest that asking about loose-fitting dentures should form part of comprehensive geriatric assessment.

Rechecking the position of the nasogastric tube after oropharyngeal suction is not common practice. Our patient deteriorated after oropharyngeal suction was performed, whilst nasogastric feeding continued. We suggest that nasogastric feeding should be stopped during oropharyngeal suction and the tube position should be checked every time an oropharyngeal suction is performed.