Stomach acid does cause damage when you vomit.
It’s particularly harsh on teeth, but luckily most people don’t throw up too often, nor do they tend to hold it in their mouth too long.
The same goes for the rest of the throat and mouth. There’s a bit of mucus that provides a little protection, but burning does happen and the only reason that it isn’t worse is because the stuff doesn’t sit there long in a large quantity (and, often, people throw up food not too long after eating, so the stomach hasn’t really produced too much digestive juices yet when the vomiting occurs).
People that have “reflux” are pushing stuff from their stomach and splashing it around the bottom of their throat near the stomach. They do get bad acid burns there, and if it happens long enough that scar tissue can become cancerous.
Latest Answers