Doctors were left baffled after a baby was rushed in with a mysterious black mark at the roof of her mouth.
Darian Depreta, from the US, noticed the huge circular mark whilst playing with her daughter Bella.
The mother instantly panicked after the stubborn mark wouldn’t wipe off.
She wrote on Facebook, in a post that now has 11 thousand shares:
So I’m playing with Bella today and notice the roof of her mouth is black.
I try wiping it to see if it would come off, and it didn’t.
I immediately call Chandler, my mom and best friend in a panic. I make her a doctors appointment that was about 30 minutes from the time I noticed her mouth.
The concerned mum took her daughter to her GP and nurse practitioner, all who struggled to decipher the mysterious spot.
Stumped doctors suggested it could be a birthmark. Yet Darian resisted the diagnosis, saying:
I get to the doctors and the Nurse Practitioner tried to wipe it and said she had never seen anything like it.
She decides to consult with the doctors and they suggest maybe a birthmark. I INSISTED it was not because I always look in her mouth and clean it.
After much confusion, Darian and doctors had resigned to call in specialists to figure out Bella’s medical mystery.
Darian said:
I’m now being told that my daughter will be set up with 2 specialists.
After insisting it wasn’t a birthmark on the roof of her mouth, the NP decided to take another look at this medical mystery.
Though expecting the worst, Darian asks doctors to check the black mark again:
I point out it looks a little white on the side and she really gets in there trying to scrape it.
As doctors scraped away at the mark, they discovered all wasn’t as it seemed…
ONLY TO FIND OUT IT WAS CARDBOARD FROM A BOX BELLA CHEWED STUCK TO THE ROOF OF HER MOUTH
The ‘mystery’ was, in fact, the result of a teething baby and a cardboard box.
‘I can never show my face in that office again. I cried/laughed for a solid 5 minutes straight,’ laughs the mum.
Embarrassed but relieved, Darian made light the experience, especially for parents managing toddlers.
‘And I don’t “let “ my baby chew on cardboard. She’s teething and tries to chew on EVERYTHING,’ she added.
The post has now over 100 comments.
‘I thought she had a rotting mouth,’ commented one friend on Facebook.
‘OMG Darian. Such is the life of a mother! At some point, NOTHING surprises you. I’m so glad Bella is ok!’, said another.
Kids, eh?
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via story@unilad.com
L’Oréal Blackett is a freelance journalist, broadcaster, and presenter with a lot of hair and a lot to say. A former digital magazine editor covering women’s issues and local news, she now works for a range of media publications including BBC Radio Manchester, Bumble and of course, UNILAD.