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- Trying to keep your mouth closed while
yawning is not just good manners - it might save
your life.
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- Ben Shire, 34, was making a cup of tea to
keep himself awake when a massive yawn took
hold. Within seconds, the father of three had
strained his jaw so much that he dislocated it.
He collapsed on the floor, unable to breathe or
swallow.
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- His wife dialled 999 as he lay on the floor
choking on his saliva. Paramedics rushed Mr
Shire to hospital, with his jaw still locked,
where medics resuscitated him using a suction
device.
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- It then took doctors four hours to reset his
jaw.
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- "We can laugh about it now, but it wasn't
funny at the time," the store worker, from
Horsham, Sussex, said.
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- "I couldn't breathe because I was choking -
it felt like two fingers down my throat. The
more I panicked, the more I struggled for
breath."
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- His wife Sam, a hotel cleaner, added: "I was
really panicking and didn't know what to
do."
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- A spokesman for East Surrey Hospital in
Redhill praised the quick thinking of the
ambulance crew.
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- Cases of jaws locking open mid-yawn are very
rare. Doctors advise people who do experience
the problem to bend forward or lie on their side
in the recovery position to let gravity ease the
pressure.
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- People with locked jaws can feel like they
are choking because of the build-up of saliva in
their mouths.
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- To reset a locked jaw, dentists push the
lower jaw downwards and back by pushing on the
lower back teeth.
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