Swallow that !

A woman who swallowed her toothbrush still managed to dial the emergency number for an ambulance, a newspaper reports.

The South China Morning Post says the 42-year-old woman's brush with disaster happened when she slipped jamming the offending 15-centimetre implement down her throat.

It reports the Hong Kong woman was still able to call 999 without choking and request an ambulance.

"Paramedics obtained another 15-centimetre-long toothbrush at her home, which she said was similar to the one she swallowed and took it with them to the hospital," the newspaper said.

The instrument was eventually extracted with endoscopic surgery.