A Spanish woman reportedly swallowed her toothbrush whole after using it to try and fish out a piece of food she was choking on.

Heizea, from Galdakao, in the Basque region — whose full name was withheld by foreign media — claimed that she had been eating turkey on November 29 when a piece got stuck in her windpipe.

As the 21-year-old gasped for air, she desperately grabbed her toothbrush and attempted to pull the food out.

But in her haste she went down too far, and swallowed the eight-inch-long instrument.

Heizea said that she had to take drastic action as no one else was around to help.

“My dad couldn’t help me because he’s stuck in a wheelchair with a damaged Achilles tendon, so I decided to help myself by using the toothbrush,” she said.

“Because it was only getting worse, I grabbed the first thing I could get hold of which was the toothbrush to try and dislodge it,” she continued.

But just as the turkey became loose, so did Heizea’s grip on the toothbrush: “I tried to hold it by the bristles but once the obstruction was cleared, it just got sucked in.”

She was then rushed to hospital, but said didn’t feel any pain during the peculiar ordeal.

Heizea recalled having to explain the “bizarre” situation to staff at the hospital. “They all started rushing around and couldn’t believe it until they saw the x-rays, and it really was there,” she said.

After three hours of examination and diagnosis, surgeons removed the brush during a 40-minute procedure while she was under sedation.

No surgery was required as doctors were able to pull the tool out by looping the head of the toothbrush with surgical twine and lifting it back out through the esophagus.

“I woke up with the toothbrush next to me on the bedside table,” Heizea said, adding: “I was just glad I could breathe again.”

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