A 60-year-old female patient suffered a dental drill accident at a hospital in Sweden while she was having a dental implant surgery.

Instead of having her teeth removed, the patient had a drill removed from her lung. During surgery, the drill came loose and fell into her mouth. Since she was laying she was immediately put into a sitting position and asked to cough. However she had already swallowed the drill and it had gone to her lung, according to Swedish newspaper The Local.

The patient had to undergo a bronchoscopy which consisted in a pinky-sized tube sent into her lung with a small camera and pliers to extract it.

"She tried to spit it out, and was made to cough, but she'd already swallowed," the hospital's medical chief Per Weitz told The Local.

The incident reportedly occurred in September at the Vastmanland County Hospital. The patient was released a day after the bronchoscopy, but she did not recover fully until a month later, according to the report.

Drills are used by dentists during dental procedures, usually to remove decay and shape tooth structure prior to the insertion of a filling or crown.

The hospital's dental clinic has reportedly introduced new rules before using drills.

The clinic now makes sure everyone double checks that the drill is attached properly, and dentists test the drill in the air before every procedure, according to The Local.

"Unfortunately, drills are going to be dropped every now and then," Weitz told the paper.

Scientists are exploring alternatives to the dental drills. Early this year, researchers at the University of Missouri created a new "gas-firing" device that generates high-energy gas and liquid particles to kill bacteria and blas out the decayed pulp of the tooth.

The device reportedly resembles an electrical toothbrush and may be pain-free since it doesn't affect the nerves of the teeth.