Saudi child swallows toothbrush, surgery successful

Riyadh: A medical team at the Makkah's Maternity and Children Hospital succeeded Sunday, December 25, in extracting an electric toothbrush tip from the stomach of a 9-year-old child, endoscopically, without surgical intervention.

Makkah's Health Cluster said that the child was transferred to the hospital's emergency room having swallowed the head of an electric toothbrush. After preliminary examinations and conducting x-rays to determine the location of the brush inside the digestive system, it was precisely located inside the stomach, where the medical team decided to remove it so as not to lead to intestinal obstruction.

The operation was performed by laparoscope in 20 minutes without any complications, and the nine-year-old continues to spend the recovery period in the hospital under medical observation.