A Veil of Superstition Unveiled – An Exotic Manifestation of Susuk

The occurrence of radio-opaque embedded foreign entities on dental radiographs, especially after dental treatment or maxillofacial trauma is not uncommon. Alongside such commonplace radiopacities, there is the occasional report of disparate artifacts being observed as incidental findings on dental pantomographs. One such entity is Susuk, or charm needles that are implanted subcutaneously in the facial region and elsewhere in the body. While this phenomenon has been reported primarily from the South-east Asian region; increasing international travel in the modern age could render these radiopaque entities a diagnostic challenge for the unacquainted clinician. In a deviation from the classically reported needle-type susuks, this paper reports a case involving insertion of multiple, springy type, filamentous, strands in the orofacial region; manifesting on the pantomograph as a meshed- veil that has never been reported in the literature.