A Cautionary Tale of Using Grill Brushes.
It only took one bite for me to never use a metal bristle grill brush again.
Cleaning your grill isn’t something you typically overthink, just grab a brush and scrape, right? But after my experience, it’s something I think about every time I eat food that’s been cooked on a grill.
About ten years ago, I used a metal-bristled grill brush to clean the grates of my grill. What I thought was a job well done turned into a trip to the dentist the next day.
Here’s what happened.
The metal bristles had fallen out of the grill brush. Covered in old grease, they blended in with the grates and stuck to them. I threw on some fresh chicken breasts, and the metal bristles clung to the grilled crust of the chicken, making their way straight to my plate.
It was the third or fourth bite when I bit down and felt a hard obstruction between my molars, followed by a jolt of extreme pain into my jaw. OUCH! The sensation stunned me; I had no idea what had just happened. Naturally, I looked down at my plate and saw metal bristles scattered across my freshly grilled meal.
Luckily, only one piece of metal had made it into my mouth and hadn’t gone any further. The next morning, I called my dentist and got in for an x-ray. The image showed I hadn’t damaged a tooth, but I had stretched the tendons that hold the teeth in place. Thankfully, I recovered fully and avoided serious injury.
