UP woman eating golgappa ends up with locked jaw, critical

In a shocking incident, a woman enjoying golpappas ended up with a locked jaw while opening her mouth to eat the delicacy.

The incident happened in Uttar Pradesh's Auraiya district on Saturday. As per an NDTV report, the woman has been identified as Inkala Devi (42), a resident of Gauri Kishanpur village in the Dibiyapur area.

Inkala was in Auriya for some work when she decided to have the popular street snack. While eating the golgappa, she opened her mouth wide to take a bite and then couldn't close her mouth. In medical terms, the condition is known as lockjaw. Inkala needed immediately medical assistance for which she was taken to the District Joint Hospital.

While the doctors at the District Joint Hospital tried to fix her jaw, the attempts turned futile after which she was referred Chicholi Medical College for specialised treatment. Her condition she said to be critical.

“As soon as Didi opened her mouth to eat the golgappa, it stayed open. We thought it might be normal pain, but when her mouth didn't close, we immediately took her to the hospital,” a relative of the woman told media.

What is lockjaw?

In medical terms, lockjaw can refer to two different conditions. While the first one includes the bacterial infection tetanus, which causes painful muscle spasms throughout the body, or trismus, a general term for a restricted inability to open the mouth, caused by issues with the jaw joint, muscles, or surrounding tissues. The woman had the second issue.

The condition can be caused by Temporomandibular joint disorders (TMJ) which affects the joints and jaw muscles, leading to symptoms like pain, clicking, and difficulty opening the mouth.