WARNING: The imagery included in this article is graphic.
A toddler somehow walked out of the hospital the day after a metal reusable straw pierced through the roof of her mouth.
The little girl, just 21 months old, was taken to a rural emergency department in Otago after falling off a push bike.
The incident was published in the latest New Zealand Medical Journal by Dr Jacob Arahill-Whitham, Dr Hitesh Taylor, and Dean Ruske. For privacy reasons, the girl's name and locations have been left anonymous.
According to the Dunedin-based specialists who treated her, she was naturally upset, but consolable and in stable condition when she arrived with the straw still lodged in the upper plate of her mouth.
The X-ray showed the straw had pushed up into her nasal sinuses, “with the tip possibly sitting at the frontal skull base”.
Photo | New Zealand Medical Journal
A follow-up CT scan confirmed one end of the straw was lodged in the toddler's sphenoid bone, which sits right at the base of the cranium.
She was later flown by rescue chopper to the nearest tertiary hospital - which handles more complex or serious cases - about 4 hours and 33 minutes after the accident, with her parents and doctors alongside her in case things took a turn.
About an hour and a half later, once she arrived, it was straight into surgery. And the straw was out in just one attempt, six hours after the accident happened.
The surgical team were also able to close the hole in her palate, and miraculously, she was discharged the next day with just a course of oral antibiotics - and a gnarly yarn to tell at her 21st down the track.
Photo | New Zealand Medical Journal
“No further issues were reported during follow-up,” the specialists noted.
They added that injuries like this - where something pierces the hard palate - are rare, but not unheard of.
In a review of 144 patients at a single centre, 18.1% of those with penetrating oral cavity injuries had injured their hard palate, similar to this case.
Most of these kinds of injuries happen when kids (or the odd adult) take a tumble with something in their mouth. We’re talking things like toothbrushes, toys, kitchen utensils, pens, or even sticks.
With single-use plastics still on the way out, reusable straw injuries are only gonna become more common - so it’s a good idea for parents to be aware of the risks of wee ones running around with things in their mouths.
