Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

This is the elderly woman who accidentally swallowed her false teeth which then wedged in her throat for several hours after hooks to keep them in place pierced her flesh.

Pensioner Yang Yuxiang, 66, said she tried eating food to push the false teeth into her stomach, but the dentures, which are secured on her gums by sharp metal hooks on either side, did not move.

She finally had her family members bring her to the Fourth Hospital of Harbin Medical University, in north-eastern China’s Heilongjiang Province, on 16th January.

Scans of her oesophagus showed the metal object caught on the wall of her oesophagus, causing pain as it dug into her flesh for nine hours before she sought help.

Ms Yang, who takes daily medication for a series of conditions including high blood pressure, said: “After breakfast, I went into my room to take my medication and choked on water.

“My false teeth came loose while I was coughing, then they went down my throat with the medicine.

“It hurt so much. I couldn’t breathe. One of the hooks was piercing my throat.

“I tried to swallow it by eating a bun and some orange, but it wouldn’t move. It was stuck there.”

Medics performed an endoscopy on the elderly woman, locating the false teeth in her throat and removing them with a pair of forceps.

Ms Yang did not suffer serious injuries to her throat, and she is expected to make a full recovery, the hospital said.

Her doctor, Hou Yueting, has advised against so-called ‘folk remedies’ for dislodging objects stuck in one’s oesophagus.

Doctor Hou said: “Methods such as drinking vinegar or eating food to push it down are both incorrect.

“Eating food could cause the object to become lodged deeper in the oesophagus.

“Vinegar may cause some temporary movement but is generally ineffective.”

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