Medical Must-See: Ingested toothbrush returns after 20 years
The patient told doctors that he had experienced persistent intermittent epigastric pain for the past two years.
This man bristled at doctors’ persistent questioning before eventually spitting out the fact he had swallowed a toothbrush 20 years ago for a drunken dare.
At age 40, the patient presented to doctors with a two-year history of persistent intermittent epigastric pain.
On examination, he was afebrile and haemodynamically stable. Abdominal examination was unremarkable, with no tenderness or palpable mass. Routine lab test results were normal.
Writing in the American Journal of Case Reports, the doctors from Shenzhen Second People’s Hospital in China said they had taken “repeated” histories before the patient confessed to swallowing a toothbrush 20 years earlier as part of a drunken bet.
