I recently swallowed a metal retainer by accident. For those who don’t know, it’s basically a metal wire that sits behind your teeth to keep them straight and, let me tell you, that’s a pointy wire.
I panicked a bit and looked up if this was a dangerous thing and while there are some cases of it not going well, the greater concern was whether or not I inhaled it (99% sure I didn’t, no symptoms of that) and that it normally just passes through the digestive tract without a problem. I even read stories of people passing full brace wires, thumb tacks, and freaking razor blades!
I just don’t get how that’s possible. All I could think of was my intestines squeezing on that wire wrong and making an internal shish kebab out of my retainer and innards. Let alone some of those other items (which I am sure also come with a higher rate of complications). Is it luck or is there some sort of internal monitoring/manipulation that protects your GI from impaling itself when these things go down?
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Mucus. So much mucus. Your body produces about 1.5 liters/quarts per day, plus more if there’s an irritation somewhere. So it surrounds sharp things and keeps them from hurting you, most of the time.
Although I still think the guy who ate an airplane probably had at least a little trouble in the bathroom afterward.
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