A 50-year-old male patient who accidentally ingested an entire toothbrush and had severe abdominal pain was referred to the Dr. Jai Dev Memorial Rotary Ambala Hospital (DJMRH) by the Civil Hospital, Ambala Cantt. The patient came into the emergency department, and Dr. Hardeep Singh, a gastroenterologist and hepatologist, suggested a CT scan to find out the exact position of the toothbrush in the stomach. After looking at the CT scan report, the patient was moved into the gastroenterology procedure room for an endoscopic examination, where Dr. Singh found out that the toothbrush was causing ulceration in the stomach.

Removing this toothbrush was extremely tricky because there was an increased risk of bleeding and causing an injury or hole in the stomach or esophagus, but the gastroenterology team was determined to remove it safely and relieve the patient from pain. Further, the team tried to remove the toothbrush, but it got stuck at the junction of the stomach and food pipe. Which in turn showed only one way, which was open surgical removal of the toothbrush. But Dr. Singh gave it another try, and finally, with the help of a large snare, he and his team were able to safely remove the toothbrush by endoscopic approach. The toothbrush was handed over to the patient as a souvenir. The patient was admitted to the daycare ward for some time to have a post-procedure endoscopic examination. A post-procedure endoscopic examination was done after one hour, which showed that there was no injury to the stomach or foodpipe.

After looking, the patient was discharged within the next two hours.

Kudos to the team for their expertise and determination in handling this challenging case!