A hospital worker had difficulty believing a woman who said that she had accidentally swallowed a toothbrush, the doctor who removed the item said on Wednesday.
Tsai Yuan-jung (蔡元榮), a gastroenterologist and hepatologist at Pingtung Christian Hospital, said that the attending nurse asked the woman to repeat her problem several times, thinking that she had misheard her.
“The whole toothbrush?” the nurse had asked, Tsai said.
Photo courtesy of Pingtung Christian Hospital
The woman told medical staff that she accidentally swallowed the object while brushing her teeth in a daze having woken up early that morning.
She reported pain in her chest, the hospital said, adding that it withheld the patient’s name to protect her privacy.
An 18cm toothbrush was removed from the 44-year-old’s esophagus, Tsai said.
The plastic toothbrush was not apparent in chest and abdominal X-rays, but an endoscopy showed that it was lodged near the bottom of her esophagus, he said.
The item was extracted and there was no sign of infection, Tsai said, adding that infection is the main concern in such incidents.
The woman was grateful once the procedure was completed, Tsai said, adding that she was pleased to have evidence to show her family that she had not lost her mind.
Doctors regularly treat children and elderly people who have ingested foreign objects, he said.
Batteries, screws, coins and marbles are items commonly ingested by children, while adults are more likely to have a fish bone stuck in their throat, he said.
An endoscopy is conducted immediately when someone has a foreign object in their esophagus, stomach or intestines, as the situation might be urgent, he said.
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