Sir, I write in reference to an article published in issue 12 of BDJ in Practice entitled 'A Christmas Cracker', in December 2022.1 In the article the authors mentioned popular sweets Gobstoppers and their negative impact on teeth. From my own experience, they are not only detrimental to teeth, but also pose a serious life threat.

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Just a few months ago, on a weekend afternoon I was alerted by shouting outside my house. I went outside to discover a group of people surrounding a young girl laying on the ground, in a pool of bodily fluids. As I was told, she was eating a Gobstopper while playing with her friends and then suddenly started choking. Thankfully, someone already called an ambulance so I swiftly began performing the choking algorithm, we all know so well from our CPR training. Unfortunately, several rounds of back blows and abdominal thrusts achieved nothing. The girl became unresponsive and you could feel life draining away from her. CPR was necessary.

In real life, you realise it truly is a matter of life and death and that every second counts. Fortunately, the paramedics arrived quickly and were able to carry on the resuscitation successfully in the air ambulance that also arrived at the scene. Afterwards, I had an opportunity to speak to paramedics who confirmed that the Gobstopper sweet got stuck in the airway and there was no way anyone providing first aid could remove it. It was thanks to CPR and the quick ambulance response the girl survived.

I believe this serves as a very vivid examples that CPR training is necessary and it may be of use in the least expected situation. However, it also poses a perhaps even more important question of whether certain items marketed for children (in this instance Gobstoppers}, are actually safe and their availability should be reconsidered.