Man claims he lost dental implants after biting into bun from Nex eatery

He took a bite of his bun, heard a loud crack, and the next thing he knew, his mouth was filled with blood as two of his teeth fell off.

The cause? A stone, roughly the size of a fingernail, was found inside the bun, he claimed. As a result, the 34-year-old was told he would have to wear dentures for life.

In an interview with Lianhe Wanbao, the man revealed that he had purchased a butterfly bun — a deep-fried dough fritter — along with a bowl of dessert from Dough Culture's outlet at Nex last month.

He had gone to the nearby bus interchange to take his meal, but he was barely two bites into his bun when he bit into a hard object, causing one of his incisors and a canine tooth to break off.

"I quickly ran to the toilet to rinse my mouth before running back to the shop," he told the Chinese evening daily.

"I was so angry I forgot to take a picture, but I figured there was a stone inside the bun so I handed it to the staff and asked for their manager."

Upon discovering the stone within the bun, the staff called their Koufu headquarters, he said. Six managerial-level staff arrived shortly after, taking the bun with them for investigations.

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According to the man, one of the managers had offered to bring him to a partner dental clinic the next day. However, she not only allegedly failed to turn up, but also stopped answering his calls.

In addition, he was promised a solution within a week when he met with three persons in charge, two days after the incident. He had yet to hear back from them, he told the paper, even though nearly a month had elapsed, and therefore decided to file a police report.

The Singapore Food Agency confirmed that they had also received a report and that the investigations are currently underway.

In response to the Lianhe Wanbao's enquiries, a spokesperson for Koufu said their insurance company was handling the investigations, which included checking the manufacturing process of the buns. As investigations are still ongoing, they were unable to disclose more information.

Dental implants cost between $3,000 and $4,000

The man revealed that the two broken teeth were actually implants, which he had spent between $3,000 and $4,000 to get done. He had specially gone to Guangzhou in 2016 for the dental procedure, hence was unable to accept it when his dentist told him that the implants were beyond repair.

"Although they were implants, I never had any problems with them. Both teeth were very healthy. The dentist confirmed that too during the examination," he said.

Koufu's spokesperson told the Chinese evening daily that in order to obtain the man's report from the clinic, they would have to go through their insurance company and pay a small fee for it. If the man were to ask for compensation, he'd have to call the clinic and obtain the report on his own.

rainercheung@asiaone.com