The Dollar Store comes in handy for a lot of things and it’s a quick fix when you are in a pinch and need decor for a birthday party or a last-minute greeting card. But, there are some things that you simply should not purchase at the discount chain store.
Batteries are one of the items you should avoid buying at a dollar store because the life has proven to be far shorter than batteries purchased at department stores.
Another item to avoid at the dollar store is cooking tools, as they break in a matter of minutes, but more importantly, there is one cooking tool that you should avoid at all costs, as it could result in a major medical emergency.
If you need further reason to not buy a grill brush at the dollar store, then you need to hear Anthony Fiore’s story.
Along with his family, young Anthony was happy that spring was in full bloom, and even more excited to be able to enjoy a nice outdoor barbeque. Eager to get the grill cleaned off and heated up, Anthony’s mother Nadia, used what she thought was a trusty grill brush to make sure it was clean and clear for the delicious burgers she had prepared. Little did she know, that grill brush would land Anthony in the hospital later that day.
Just a few bites into his burger, Anthony felt a tickle in his throat that soon turned into what he described to his mom as a stabbing pain. Not taking any chances, Nadia rushed her son to the hospital and it didn’t take long for doctors to see the source of the pain in an x-ray. A metal piece of the grill brush had been lodged in his throat after it had evidently been cooked into his burger.
While the problem was easy to diagnose, it wasn’t so easy to fix, because if it got lodged any further into his body it had the potential of puncturing his organs. Doctors rushed Anthony into emergency surgery where they were able to remove the metal piece from his throat, however; a few days later Anthony developed a serious infection from the dirty bristle brush. Luckily, after a heavy dose of antibiotics, the infection was cleared and Anthony was free to leave the hospital.
According to Anthony’s doctor, Aziz Benbrahim, these types of cases happen quite often, however, the severity of each case varies greatly. One case was so severe that the patient’s stomach was punctured by the bristle brush, which caused other serious damage.
“I had to open him up completely,” Benbrahim shared. “Then we remove this wire and we found out also why he had chest pain-because he also had a pulmonary embolism, which is a blood clot in his lungs. He was just lucky he was still alive. All from this wire.”
Michael Rumolo, manager of Dickson Barbecue Center in Toronto, shared a few tips about how to avoid this danger.
“A lot of things that go wrong with bristles coming out are overuse and the quality of the brush in the first place,” said Rumolo, who advises consumers to replace your brush every season. In addition to replacing your brush, Rumolo emphasized the importance of buying the best quality brush you can find. Nowadays, there are a variety of cleaning tools that are much safer than the bristle brush.
There are brushes made of nylon and cleaning stones which pose no bristle threat at all. If you opt to change from bristle brush to one of these other tools, make sure that you’ve thoroughly cleaned off your grill to ensure the old bristles are completely gone.
