Swallowed toothbrush: Case series

Abstract

Toothbrush swallowing is rare, and most cases are seen in young women with anorexia nervosa or bulimia or associated with mental retardation or schizophrenia. Prompt removal is recommended because no cases of spontaneous passage have been reported. There is no previously reported case series on swallowed toothbrush in mentally normal young men. Here, we report three cases of swallowed toothbrush found in the esophagus and stomach on endoscopy. In our case series, successful removal of the toothbrush was done without endotracheal intubation or over tube, without any complications. To our knowledge, this is the first documented case series of swallowed toothbrush managed successfully endoscopically.

Keywords

• Endoscopy
• foreign body
• toothbrush