Chinese man finds a toothbrush in his intestine 52 years after swallowing it

The man, surnamed Yang, from Anhui province in eastern China, recently visited a hospital after experiencing persistent stomach discomfort. Scans revealed a 17-centimetre toothbrush stuck in his small intestine- a foreign object he had ingested when he was just 12 years old.

Yang told doctors he had been too frightened to inform his parents at the time and assumed the toothbrush would dissolve or pass naturally through his system. For years, he remained symptom-free until recently.

Doctors at the hospital performed an endoscopic procedure and successfully removed the toothbrush in a surgery that lasted 80 minutes. Medical experts said it was among the longest objects retrieved from a patient’s digestive system in the hospital over the past 3 years.

Dr Zhou, one of the attending physicians, said such objects can be extremely dangerous. “A toothbrush lodged in the intestine can rotate, press against tissue, and even cause a fatal perforation,” he said.

The patient was considered lucky as the toothbrush had remained stuck in a bend of the intestine and had not moved or caused damage over the years.

The unusual case triggered widespread astonishment online, with many users expressing disbelief that such an item could go unnoticed in the body for more than half a century.

According to SCMP, this isn’t the first time doctors in China have had to remove large foreign objects. Last year, medical staff in Sichuan province extracted a 15-cm tube of super glue from a woman who also believed it would naturally dissolve in her system.

Doctors have urged people to seek immediate medical help when foreign objects are swallowed and recommended regular health check-ups to prevent complications.