A 7-year-old boy from Hannover, Germany inserted his tongue into a juice bottle in an attempt to retrieve the last drops of juice, creating a partial vacuum in the bottle. As a result, the lad’s tongue became entrapped. In most cases, doctors will drill a hole through the bottle or insert a tube between the tongue and the bottle to equalize the pressure, but this time the technique didn’t work. So the doctor pumped air through the tube into the bottle, and the kid’s tongue popped right out.
From Eurekalert:
Air was then injected into the bottle, and after 60 ml of air, the swollen and discoloured tongue squeezed out of the bottle neck – slowly at first and then swiftly. To help reduce the swelling, prednisolone and ibuprofen were given and the boy was admitted to a paediatric surgical ward for a 24-hr observation period. On discharge, the swelling had largely dissipated but for about three days the front part of the tongue remained very discoloured. At follow-up 14 days after the entrapment, the boy had fully recovered.
Image: SWNS