# grill brush dangers!!



## drfishalot (Sep 9, 2004)

oK so here at work bored. guy comes in says he thinks he has a piece of wire in his throat from eating a grilled shish ka bob. huh?
then says thinks its from a grill brush-ok guess thats possible.
shoot xray of neck and sure enough there is a thin white line at the level of the epiglottis, repeat the xray just to make sure its not an artifact and sure enough, same thin line in same place. 
so now gonna send this off to a radiologist to confirm before I call the GI crew in to take him to the OR to scope him and remove this possible foreign body. 

lesson: be careful with them old grill cleaning brushes that are falling apart! one expensive shish ka bob already and might be doubling/tripling in price in the next hour or so!


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## chuck115 (Feb 18, 2009)

*brushes*

several years ago there was a guy at work that digested a wire off a brush that had got into food from the grill cleaning. he had to have surgery to have it removed and was out several weeks from work. since then i always take extra care when cleaning . hope the guy makes it thru ok ...very expensive lesson for sure that lot of people probably never think of.


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## frank n texas (Aug 11, 2004)

I have been treated twice in my lifetime by two restaurants serving me grill brush wires in my food...

First was in a sandwich at a well known restaurant in the Post Oak San Felipe area..

Second time was in my fajita plate at a well know mexican restaurant in Rosenberg....

Discovered both times while chewing and before swallowing...


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## Barnacle Brain (Sep 13, 2006)

After I found my last brush wire on my bbq I quit using brushes. They just get too worn out too quickly. Now I use a loosely balled up peice of foil to clean the grill and just throw it away.


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## sergio380 (Dec 13, 2008)

Barnacle Brain said:


> After I found my last brush wire on my bbq I quit using brushes. They just get too worn out too quickly. Now I use a loosely balled up peice of foil to clean the grill and just throw it away.


 good idea! and use an onion after that.


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## jdot7749 (Dec 1, 2008)

Grill brush? Are you supposed to brush the grill?


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## Gilbert (May 25, 2004)

jdot7749 said:


> Grill brush? Are you supposed to brush the grill?


I'm confused as well. :help:


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## 24Buds (Dec 5, 2008)

Gilbert said:


> I'm confused as well. :help:


 x3. still sux to have a wire in your face. Hope all is well.


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## frank n texas (Aug 11, 2004)

This is really a serious problem...

Getting a wire stuck in your throat would be bad enough but just think what happens should you manage to swallow the strand of stiff wire and it gets in you gut and perforates it..

That could be some bad ju ju for sure...


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## coogerpop (Sep 3, 2009)

frank n texas said:


> This is really a serious problem...
> 
> Getting a wire stuck in your throat would be bad enough but just think what happens should you manage to swallow the strand of stiff wire and it gets in you gut and perforates it..
> 
> That could be some bad ju ju for sure...


 An old indian trick in the COLD countries was to take a 6 in or so piece of thin bone,roll it up and freeze in a ball ol lard/fat......throw them out in the area where predators roam...track um down in a day or so..they won't be far but what a terrible way to die....stomach heat thaws the lard, bone goes back to original straight configuration ,perforating stomach and all around it...


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## goodwood (Mar 30, 2009)

had a bad brush once and got a bristle or two in my steak. glad I didn't end up swallowing it.


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## Pocboy (Aug 12, 2004)

My current grill brush is not old but does the same thing. I will quit using it now.


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## Jigger (Feb 12, 2009)

When I fire up my pit I get it hot then throw the gill on the concrete. Bingo ready for steaks.

BBR


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## eastex56 (Jul 24, 2006)

it happened to me about two years ago. the wife cooked some yard bird on the gas grill. evidently, a piece of wire from the brush she cleaned the grill with was on/in a piece of the bird. i was mowing down on the bird and it felt like a small, sharp piece of bone had pushed up against the roof of my mouth. no pain, just a little pressure. well, about 3 days later, i was going out of state to pick up some livestock and there was this little sore spot on the roof or my mouth that was sorta irritating. i kept rubbing my tongue up against it and i could tell that it was something that wasnt supposed to be there. when i got home, i got a mirror and a pair of needle nose pliers and got ahold of the end of that thing and yanked it out. it was a piece of wire about an inch long from the cleaning brush. it wasnt painful and didnt get infected or anything but it could have turned out a lot worse. since then, no more brushes are used on our grills.


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## sfn01 (Aug 8, 2009)

Unfortunately, I've been on the bad end of that, too. I ended up in the ER...then an ambulance transfer to better hospital because the wire was almost headed down to the lungs. Then a trip to the OR to get the thing removed. 

Grill brushes are evil!!


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## tbone2374 (Feb 27, 2010)

Never thought about the grill brush thing... will now!


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## BillyG (Oct 19, 2004)

Wow that is unbelievable. I cant believe your wife cooked for you on the grill. LOL

I usually cut onions in half and scrub with them.



eastex56 said:


> the wife cooked some yard bird on the gas grill.


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## capt.sandbar (Aug 31, 2007)

I thought this thread was gonna be about brush guards on your grill of your truck... Oh well... Back in my High School days, I thought I had a peice of steal brush in my throat, but it came out curly..???


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## JOHNNY QUEST (Mar 6, 2006)

And this is precisly why I use the Billy Bar.. I love my Billy bar... I find myself outside workin those grates even when I'm not even gunna cook.. I use it ta stir the lump charcol thru the grate, its 2 foot long...get one... I got a billy bar bottle opener as well... 
http://www.billybar.com/


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## the_jman28 (Dec 13, 2010)

check out the grillion for a naturally safe way to clean your bbq grill thegrillion.com


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## Haute Pursuit (Jun 26, 2006)

Use a wire brush meant for welders. They last forever and the wires don't fall out. The ones they sell on the grill section are garbage... just go to the tool section of your fav big box hardware store.


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## RogerB (Oct 11, 2005)

Haute Pursuit said:


> Use a wire brush meant for welders. .


is that the same brush y'all use on George all the time??  (sorry - didn't mean to hijack the thread). But HP is right those are some great brushes.


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## fangard (Apr 18, 2008)

I don't clean my grill, except with a damp towel to get any loose fragments off.

I never understood scrubbing it clean when you want to build up a crust for cast iron? My grill is non stick by now.


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## CoastalOutfitters (Aug 20, 2004)

Haute Pursuit said:


> Use a wire brush meant for welders. They last forever and the wires don't fall out. The ones they sell on the grill section are garbage... just go to the tool section of your fav big box hardware store.


and get the SS wire model and don't leave it outside


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## speckledred (Jun 1, 2004)

We just scrape the grill when required and rub it down, as mentiioned before, with an onion after firing the grill back hot.


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## drfishalot (Sep 9, 2004)

2-3 weeks ago I saw a guy who had been sent to the ER for a CT scan from the opthamologist, he had been using some sort of brush and got bristle shot out and punctured his eye ball. opthamologist had pulled it out and sent him to me to do the scan to make sure there was no more metal in there- they were going to surgery if there had been.


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## fishnstringer (Oct 20, 2006)

*X2 or 3, whichever.*

BTW, why use an onion, of all things to clean a grill with?


CoastalOutfitters said:


> and get the SS wire model and don't leave it outside


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## firefight (Sep 12, 2009)

*grill brush*

I also have had a wire from a grill brush in my own grilled chicken. I stopped using the cheap ones for grills and started using a *Lincoln *stainless steel wire brush that welders use. Have not had any wires on the grill or in cooked food . They are a heavier gauge wire and can easily be spotted on a grill if it does come loose.


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