NEDLANDS, WESTERN AUSTRALIA — A woman in Australia who last wore orthodontic braces in her early twenties found herself experiencing extreme intestinal pain because of them a decade later.

As reported by CNN, the woman began complaining of agonizing pains in her stomach earlier this year. When she sought treatment at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, doctors initially gave thought it was her gallbladder when the pain subsided after she took some pain medication. However, when she returned two days later still suffering, a CT scan revealed a foreign object that had punctured her small intestine in several places.

The physicians initially thought the foreign object they spotted was a fish bone, but after performing surgery to have it removed, they found a 7-cm long piece of wire, likely from her braces. Doctors were surprised to find the wire, because the woman, now 30, hadn't worn braces in so long. As reported in the medical journal BMJ Case Reports this week, they believe the wire had been lying dormant in her system until it punctured her small bowel, leading to the pains.

According to the journal Deutsches Ärzteblatt international, the most commonly found items swallowed by adults tend to be fish bones and chicken bones. Adults typically accidentally swallow things they try to hold in their mouths, such as bobby pins or screws.