A 21-year-old woman swallowed her entire toothbrush after using it to dislodge a piece of food caught in her throat. Heizea, a woman from Galdakao, Spain, claimed she'd been eating turkey on November 29 when she began to choke on the dish.
In an attempt to clear her airway, Heizea reached for her toothbrush and began using it to dislodge the food. However, the toothbrush slipped out of her grasp and was swallowed whole.
According to the New York Post, Heizea explained that she had to act quickly as no one else was around to help.
"My dad couldn't help me because he's stuck in a wheelchair with a damaged Achilles tendon, so I decided to help myself by using the toothbrush," she said.
"Because it was only getting worse, I grabbed the first thing I could get hold of, which was the toothbrush, to try and dislodge it," she continued.
At the moment the turkey became loose, so too did her toothbrush: "I tried to hold it by the bristles, but once the obstruction was cleared, it just got sucked in."
The news portal further said that Heizea was then rushed to the hospital, though, remarkably, she has said she felt no pain during the shocking ordeal.
She recalled explaining her "bizarre" predicament to hospital staff upon admittance. "They all started rushing around and couldn't believe it until they saw the x-rays, and it really was there," Heizea said.
After a three-hour examination, surgeons successfully extracted the dental device in a 40-minute procedure while Heizea was under sedation. Using surgical twine, they looped the toothbrush head and pulled it back through the esophagus, avoiding the need for surgery.
"I woke up with the toothbrush next to me on the bedside table," Heizea said, adding, "I was just glad I could breathe again."
