Doctors Find Toothpick In Man’s Stomach After He Fell Asleep With It In His Mouth

There are certain things you have to do before you go to bed at night.

Brush your teeth, put your phone away, take out your contacts, remove your makeup, etc.

Now, you have another item to add to the list.

Make sure you don’t have anything in your mouth before you sleep. Or you might just end up like this dude.

Man Had Toothpick In His Stomach For Six Months

A 69-year-old man had the habit of picking his teeth with a toothpick before he falls asleep.

And on one fine evening, he did the same thing. Except this time, when he fell asleep, he still had his toothpick in his mouth.

When he woke up the next morning, he couldn’t find his toothpick anywhere.

Thinking that he could’ve dropped it between the gaps of the sofa, he went about his daily routine.

In April 2019, the man felt pain in his abdomen. Thinking that it could be stomach flu, he took some medicine.

However, in Sep 2019, the pain came back and this time, he decided to consult a doctor.

The doctor used a gastroscope to examine his stomach and made a stunning discovery.

There was a toothpick in his stomach.

He Could’ve Died

A toothpick has pointy ends. And unfortunately for the elderly man, the toothpick in his stomach managed to pierce two holes within the organ, and into his pancreas as well.

He went for surgery immediately and the doctors managed to remove a toothpick measuring 6 cm in length.

The doctor said that if the toothpick wasn’t removed in time, he could’ve died.

The puncturing of the pancreas by the toothpick caused infection and abscess around the pancreas.

And if left longer, the hole would’ve developed into a pancreatic infection, necrosis, haemorrhage and a danger to large vessels surrounding the pancreas.

Moral Of The Story

One, don’t have anything in your mouth when you sleep because you might just unconsciously swallow whatever’s there.

And two, always consult with a doctor if you think there’s something wrong with your body.

While most times, we’ll play doctors ourselves and self-diagnose. But if the problem persists, get yourself checked out by a professional doctor as soon as you can.

After all, it’s better to be paranoid and lose a bit of money than to die because you didn’t get help in time, right?