Woman swallows toothbrush

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KIRYAT YAM, Israel, May 19 (UPI) -- Israeli doctors say they were able to safely remove a toothbrush from a woman's stomach after she accidentally swallowed it.

Bat-El Panker, 24, came home from work May 11, and went to brush her teeth. When she bent over the faucet with the toothbrush in her mouth, she said it slipped down her throat.

Panker told Ynetnews she tried to get it out, but to no avail. She rushed to the hospital and had an X-ray, but the doctors couldn't see the toothbrush, and sent her home.

In pain the next day, Panker went to another hospital. She underwent more X-rays, and ultrasounds, but the toothbrush was still nowhere to be found.

Finally, when the doctors sent her to have a CT scan, there it was.

Dr. Uri Segel, director of the hospital's gastrointestinal unit, managed to fish it out of her stomach using an endoscopic instrument, sparing Panker surgery.

Panker expressed her thanks to Dr. Segel, and her anger with the first round of doctors who didn't believe her.

"We're just people who want a little help when we're hurting, and it's important that doctors listen," she said.