Extensive facial damage caused by a blast injury arising from a 6 volt lead accumulator

Low-voltage electrical injuries are relatively uncommon. Injury caused by flow of heavy current due to short-circuiting a low-voltage battery has not been described in the English literature. A 9-year-old boy connected two thin household electrical wires to the two terminals of a 6 volt (lead accumulator) battery and pressed the other two ends between his teeth. This resulted in a blast causing a compound comminuted fracture of the mandible and extensive tissue damage in the oral cavity. The low internal resistance of a lead accumulator (˜ 0.03 ohms) permits the flow of a heavy current (˜ 200 amps) when short-circuited. This instantaneously vaporises a minuscule portion of wire at ˜ 2000 K resulting in a sudden rise of intraoral pressure to 30 kg cm–2leading to tissue damage.