A 69-year-old man from Hunan Province, China found out that his abdomen pain was caused by a toothpick in his stomach that had poked two holes in his stomach wall.
According to Oriental Daily, the man began feeling some pain in his upper abdomen in April this year, but he dismissed it and thought that it was just a stomach flu and took some medicine for it.
Source: Oriental Daily
However, in September, he started feeling the same pain again and went to see the doctor who used a gastroscope to examine what was in his stomach.
To his horror, they found a toothpick inside his stomach that had pierced through his stomach wall and punctured his pancreas.
Source: Oriental Daily
The man then recalled that he always had a habit of picking his teeth with a toothpick prior to the incident.
He said that one day in April, he fell asleep with a toothpick in his mouth while watching TV. He woke up and found that the toothpick was missing.
Source: iStock
At that time, he thought that the toothpick had fallen into the gap of the sofa and didn’t think much about it.
Little did he know, the toothpick had been in his stomach for six months!
After his doctor’s appointment, the man went for a surgery where doctors managed to successfully retrieve the toothpick that measured a length of 6cm.
Source: Oriental Daily
“The toothpick not only poked two holes in the stomach wall, but also punctured the pancreas through the stomach wall, causing infection and abscess around the pancreas,” the doctor said.
He added that if the toothpick had not been removed on time, the hole in his pancreas would have developed into pancreatic infection, necrosis, hemorrhage and danger to the surrounding large blood vessels. The patient could’ve lost his life.
I guess just don’t go to sleep with foreign objects in your mouth! Luckily this man was able to get treated before any irreversible harm was done.
Also read: 8yo Gets Stomach Ulcer After Mum Transmits Her Own Bacteria by Blowing on Daughter’s Food
