- Amber Hunt, 38, was on holiday in Croatia when her toothbrush slipped
- It fell into her throat and she accidentally swallowed it
- The mother panicked and had to rush to the hospital to get it out
A woman has said she is ‘lucky to be alive’ after accidentally swallowing an eight-inch toothbrush while on holiday, leaving her terrified of brushing her teeth.
In July, Amber Hunt, 38, was on holiday in Croatia visiting her in-laws with her husband Amir Devark, 41, and their two children – aged eight and one – when she felt the tool going down her throat.
The Ohio mother of two was brushing her mouth when the eight-inch toothbrush slipped from her fingers and lodged in her throat.
She tried to grab the toothbrush but couldn’t and she panicked. Her husband rushed to the hospital so experts could remove the toothbrush.
Now Amber thinks back to the incident that made her “afraid” to ever use the oral hygiene product again.
Amber Hunt, 38, has revealed she’s ‘lucky to be alive’ after accidentally swallowing an 8in toothbrush while on holiday – leaving her terrified of brushing her teeth
When the mother arrived at the hospital, doctors did not believe there was a toothbrush in her abdomen and performed an endoscopy.
When she arrived, she explained what had happened and the doctors performed an ultrasound, but Amber claims they couldn’t see the toothbrush at first.
She said: ‘They didn’t believe me because they couldn’t see the toothbrush. They called my father-in-law to check the bathroom to make sure I hadn’t thrown it.
“We went home in the evening and came back the next day. They did an upper endoscopy and they found the toothbrush in my stomach and they transferred me to another hospital.”
A doctor was unable to remove the toothbrush, so Amber was taken to KBC Split Hospital in Split, Croatia, for a 45-minute surgery to have the toothbrush removed.
Doctors tied a string around a camera, inserted it into her throat, and used the string to remove the toothbrush from Amber’s throat, all while Amber was awake.
Amber said: ‘I’m glad to be alive, I’m worried about using a toothbrush again. I have to be very careful, I do it slowly and make sure my hands are dry so it doesn’t slip.
“It was so scary, it shocked my family. It didn’t ruin my holiday, but it would have if something really bad had happened.”
She was on holiday in Croatia visiting her in-laws with her husband, Amir Devark, 41, and their two children when she felt the tool go down her throat
The Ohio mother of two was brushing the back of her mouth when the 8-inch toothbrush slipped from her fingers and lodged in her throat
Amber said, “Luckily I didn’t choke and it went down to my stomach.”
‘The feeling when I swallowed it was ‘oh my god, I’m going to die.’ I kept swallowing, I knew I could still breathe – I kept trying to grab it, but I couldn’t.
‘I suffer from muscle cramps, my throat gets stretched every few months, so I guess that’s why it didn’t get stuck.’
The mother said she is lucky to be alive and has now ‘woken up’ using a toothbrush.