An 11-year-old girl dies from an allergic reaction to toothpaste

The first thing I thought when I heard this sad news was "My mother, you have to read even the toothpaste ingredients". It is true that when there is an allergic to any food protein at home, we worry a lot about reading the labels of any food, but until now it had not fallen into the need to do so consciously in all kinds of products that our children can ingest.

And that mistake has cost him his life in California (United States) to Denise Saldate, 11, allergic to dairy. His family was always careful to avoid giving him any food that could even remotely have traces of milk protein, but surely they didn't imagine that the toothpaste that the dentist recommended To strengthen the enamel of your teeth, you could hold it.

The girl died when using it for the first time, because of an anaphylaxis. An extremely rare case, since toothpastes have a low risk of allergy, but any product has the potential to produce a reaction and that is why it is very important to be well informed of the ingredients they contain.

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All precautions are few

"She was my sun, she was the light of my life"Monique Altamirano said about her daughter, the youngest of four sisters, in an interview with Allergic Living, where she wanted to publish her case to warn other mothers.

On April 4, Monique took Denise to the dentist, because she had some stains on her teeth. So in the consultation they told him to use a specific toothpaste to strengthen the enamel.

Monique said the family consults with an allergist since Denise was diagnosed. dairy allergy with one year. He explains that he has always read food labels carefully, and taught his daughter and siblings to do the same.

And yet, after years of reading toothpaste labels when Denise was a little girl and not seeing traces of dairy in any of them, they stopped doing it because they didn't think there could be danger. Further, "Denise was excited to use a special toothpaste." Therefore, although unfortunately it could happen to anyone, she is convinced that what happened has been her fault.

Immediate reaction

Denise had had some allergic reactions over the years, but nothing comparable to this. On the night of April 4, he began brushing his teeth with his new toothpaste, with his 15-year-old sister in the bathroom.

The sister has commented that Denise began to cry almost immediately, and that she ran to her mother's room saying: 'I think I'm having an allergic reaction to toothpaste'. And, according to Monique, "his lips were already blue".

The mother keeps explaining how everything happened: "I picked it up and laid it on my bed. I ran to the living room and asked my oldest daughter to call 911, while giving Denise the epinephrine pencil."

It was also offered by her asthma inhaler, because the little girl said she couldn't breathe.

Meanwhile, the 911 operator asked her eldest daughter if her mother knew how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation. So Monique, who had been a school bus driver, put Denise on the ground and began the compressions, until the paramedics arrived. The girl was taken to the hospital in the ambulance, but she did not survive.

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A mother's warning

Denise's experience is the worst fear of any parent with a child allergic to any food. In the midst of surveillance 24 hours a day, seven days a week, necessary to control food allergies, there was an oversight, an exposure from an unexpected source. And that led to the fatal reaction for the girl.

Therefore, Monique asks through this website about allergies to insist on other families:

"Read all. Don't settle just because you haven't found anything strange for years. You can't relax, be ashamed or be afraid to ask and make sure the ingredients are safe. You are the best defense for your son. "

Even at the panegyric for his daughter's funeral, Monique wrote:

"His family implores those who know about the severity of anaphylaxis, to share their knowledge and inform those who are not familiar with this condition. We hope that by sharing their history, families, caregivers, school staff and the general population take this warning seriously and check all the ingredients of the articles, even those that may seem irrelevant ".

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A truncated future

His uncle José Luis Saldate, in the GoFundme account he opened to help the family with the funeral expenses, says that the death of Denise Alyna will help bring other children to life:

"His goal was to make a difference, he will remain alive in the form of organ donation, as it will save the lives of other children."

Read labels well, not just food

Parents, especially those of allergic children, should be very attentive to the ingredients that any consumer product can contain in addition to food, which are not the only potentially allergenic.

Even those like toothpaste or cosmetic items could contain milk traces, something that should be regulated so that manufacturers will include a warning on the packaging.

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Video: Girl dies from allergic reaction to toothpaste ASL - (March 2024).