On 8th August, a two-year-old boy from Qingdao, China, saw a pack of pipe cleaning powder and put it into his mouth as he thought it was candy. His family wasn’t paying attention to him at the time, but when the mother saw what he did, she immediately flushed the white powder out of his mouth with water.
However, she didn’t expect that the powder and water mixture began corroding the boy’s mouth!
Six hours after the boy had consumed the powder, his mouth started feeling extremely painful and his mood worsened by the minute. Feeling that something wasn’t right, his parents quickly took him to the hospital after several clinics said they couldn’t help him, reported China Press.
Source: China Press
The doctor examined the boy’s tongue, gums, palate and all parts of his mouth, and found that the mucosa – the moist tissue that lines certain parts of the inside of your body – was severely damaged and had turned white and yellow in colour!
It is known that pipe cleaning powders have a high level of alkalinity, and when mixed with water, heat is released in order to corrode stubborn stains, dissolve oil and remove other organic matter found in pipelines.
So, when the boy’s mother hurriedly made her son gargle water after he put the powder in his mouth, the powder reacted with the water and released a lot of heat. This caused a large area of the inside of his mouth to be corroded with burns on his mucosa.
Source: China Press
The boy had also accidentally swallowed the liquid mixture which caused burns in his throat, esophagus and digestive tract!
Fortunately, the doctors were able to treat the infection and inflammation, and the boy’s condition gradually improved over time.
The boy must’ve been in a lot of pain! Luckily the doctors were able to treat him before it was too late.
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