One particular candy is now banned from ever being eaten in a home in Melbourne after the family’s four-year-old burned a hole in her tongue.
The little girl named Willow Wright raided a cupboard and devoured a handful of Warheads before suffering chemical burns on her tongue.
On the day the incident took place, Willow’s mother was caught up with work, and the little girl grabbed the opportunity to sneak into her older brother’s stash of candy, according to PEOPLE. Willow got hold of her brother’s Warheads and gobbled up around 10 of them behind her mother’s back. But soon, the child began growing immensely distressed and felt her tongue start to severely burn.
Running up the stairs in pain, Willow cried out to her mother and said her tongue hurt.
“‘Mummy, Mummy, Mummy, my tongue is really sore and it hurts,'” Willow’s mother, Kirsty Wright, recalled her daughter’s painful reaction to eating about 10 Warheads lollies.
“It feels like skin was coming off,” Willow said about what she went through.
Kirsty told 9News, “I burst into tears because I was really worried.”
“I’ve never seen this before,” the mother added.
Kirsty soon got in touch with Willow’s doctor, who informed them that there wasn’t much that could be done apart from waiting for the tongue to heal. The doctor suggested letting Willow enjoy as many iced popsicles as she could and taking some pain medication for a few days.
Following the incident where Willow was left with a hole on her tongue, experts are warning parents to be careful about the kind of candy their children eat.
“The sour warhead lollies, in particular, can be very dangerous,” said Dental Association of Australia’s Jonathan Teoh, who mentioned that Warheads have a particularly high level of acid.
“Products with this level of acid or PH can cause chemical burns to cheeks and tongue,” Teoh added.
Teoh also mentioned that he and his colleagues see a number of cases where sour lollies have caused trauma or damage to their patients’ teeth.
After the first-hand experience of seeing what sour lollies can do, Kirsty has thrown out every single piece of the sour candy from her house and is spreading awareness about its potential dangers if consumed inappropriately.
“I just wanted to make aware to parents how dangerous these lollies are,” Kirsty said.
For now, young Willow is also immensely weary and said she won’t be eating any more lollies ever again.
According to PEOPLE, Warheads is a candy produced by Impact Confections, a company based in Wisconsin.
On their website, the company has answered the question: “Are WARHEADS OK for young children?”
“Some candy is only for ages 4 and up due to choking hazards. As far as whether or not your taste buds can handle sour candy, that depends on the individual person,” the website says. “Some people’s mouths are more sensitive to acids in food (pineapple, citrus) as well as to sour candy… We produce only high-quality products that meet all US Federal guidelines for PH levels and ingredients, and when eaten normally, consumers enjoy them with no issues. However, some people may have an increased sensitivity to these ingredients.”
They added, “If your mouth experiences any irritation, sour candy is probably too extreme for your tongue and you should stick to Circus Peanuts.”