Swallows brush, still smiling

In a feat worthy of a carnival performer, a 24-year old woman in Kiryat Yam accidentally swallowed her toothbrush while engaging in a bit of everyday teeth cleaning.

The woman, Bat-El Panker, was cleaning her teeth at the end of the day, lost her grip, and swallowed the normal-sized brush. She rushed to the hospital in Haifa, but doctors were unable to find the foreign object via X-ray and were skeptical of her story, Army Radio reported on Wednesday.

“The plastic brush didn’t show up on the X-ray,” Panker said, “and so they didn’t believe me in the hospital.”

She then went to a gastroenterologist in Carmiel who, through a more advanced scan, was able to find the toothbrush located in Panker’s stomach. Doctor Uri Segol successfully removed the brush non-surgically, and returned it to its owner.

It was not clear whether the toothbrush was destined for future use or would be kept as a memento.

Segol added that he has previously removed batteries, razor blades, dental bridges and dentures from patients’ insides.