title: Potential danger of toothbrushes for children.
abstract: Toothbrush, the innocent cleaning aid, has been reported to cause life threatening oropharyngeal injuries in pediatric literature. A case of a 4-year-old child reporting to an emergency department with a toothbrush impaled in her mouth while her father was forcefully brushing her teeth is reported here. Hemostasis was achieved by digital pressure and the impaled toothbrush was removed surgically. Uneventful recovery was noted. Parental anxiety and a lack of patient cooperation was noted. Such impaled objects fractured and left behind have been reported to cause serious space infections and mediastinitus. Advising parents to be careful with their children's toothbrush is important as prevention of injuries from such commonly used object could be easily achieved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, M.S. Ramaiah Dental College and Hospital, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Lalitha
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ranganath
authors.forename: Kavitha
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.forename: Khemraj
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Agrawal
authors.forename: Mahendra
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perumal
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000293:injuries*; D006472:Oral Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology; D014099:Toothbrushing / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000209:etiology*
keywords: impaction; injury; safety; toothbrush