Canadian surgeons are urging people to throw out wire-bristled barbecue brushes, because none of them have figured out a surefire way of removing the wires when they get stuck in people’s throats.
The thin, sharp wires can come off the brushes, attach to barbecue grills and cling to food without being noticed. If it’s swallowed it can cause damage to the throat and epiglottis, which is the flap of cartilage that covers the opening of the windpipe when swallowing.
That’s when surgeons can be called in to help.
“It’s a needle in a haystack, but the haystack is your tongue,” said Dr. Ian Dempsey, an otolaryngologist in Dartmouth, N.S.
“It’s not an easy structure to go fishing around in, especially when it gets embedded in deeply.”
The issue of barbecue brush bristles has become so widespread that it came up at this year’s meeting of the Canadian Society of Otolaryngology. During a discussion on ingested foreign objects that are difficult to remove, Dempsey said several ear, nose and throat surgeons spoke about their challenging surgeries.
“None of us have figured out a surefire way to get rid of them, so we’d prefer just to prevent it from happening in the first place,” Dempsey said.
“We’re hoping that if enough people raise this issue, hopefully we’ll just eliminate those types of brushes from the market and use a safer alternative.”
Dempsey, who likened the surgery to removing an acupuncture needle from a grapefruit without damaging any part of the fruit, said the number of cases across Canada isn’t tracked.
Hospitals in the Halifax area are seeing at least one or two cases each week, he said, adding that many of the wires can be removed by emergency room physicians but a few “get deeper in and lower down” and require surgery.