Hitting the nail on the head - or vice versa

Here's a crazy story. A construction worker complaining about a toothache went to the dentist to get checked out. The X-ray revealed a four inch nail in his head!


Here's a crazy story you have to hear about.

HOLY CRAP!

That is a huge nail, and it's in his head. The most interesting thing about this story is not that the nail not only missed his eye and didn't kill him, but the man did not actually know there was a nail in his head. He just thought he had a toothache.


(photo courtesy of CNN.com)
This is almost too painful to look at.

Here's what I don't understand:

How do you get a shoot a nail into the roof of your mouth and not feel it? How does that get mistaken for a toothache? The story explains how this man got the nail in his head in a nailgun mishap. And - oh by the way - the nail had been in his head for six days before it was discovered at the dentist's office.

Maybe I have a nail in my skull. Maybe you do. I just can't fathom how this is even possible. Just looking at that X-ray gives me goosebumps. I'm glad this guy turned out to be okay after a four-hour surgery, but - wow - what a weird story.

The best part is the quote from the surgeon as told by the man's wife at the end of the cnn.com article:
"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."