If food has entered my lungs, how can I get it out?

Food can block the airway, necessitating the Heimlich maneuver to eject it. However, this usually occurs in the larger airways, often not even in the lung itself. So food entering the lungs themselves, especially solid food, is quite rare. If a small piece of food has really entered the lungs, then a pulmonologist will need to evaluate you as to whether you will need a procedure known as a bronchoscopy to remove it. Any foreign material in the lung can cause irritation directly, or serve as a focus for infectious growth, so seeing a doctor promptly is important.