# Toxicity of superglue?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toxicity-of-superglue/338596>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 5, 2006, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toxicity-of-superglue/338596 "2006-01-05T17:37:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toxicity-of-superglue/338596/1 "2006-01-05T17:37:30Z")

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Got a bit of superglue (cyanoacrylate) on my fingers, and unthinkingly scraped it off with my teeth. Accidentally ingested a small, dried flake of the stuff, and I’m feeling a tiny bit queasy, but it’s probably psychological.

The bottle says, for ingestion, don’t induce vomiting, call doctor. This is probably a cover your ass type warning for large amounts ingested, right? Is a tiny flake any danger?

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toxicity-of-superglue/338596/2 "2006-01-05T17:43:39Z")

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Cyanoacylate adhesive was experimentally used in the 60’s as emergency sutures. Fairly recently, (2001 or so) it was certified for wound closure by the FDA.

That little chip off your finger should be no harm. I suspect what the labeling is concerned about is if someone swallowed enough of it to glue their insides together.

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**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toxicity-of-superglue/338596/3 "2006-01-05T17:46:00Z")

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Yeah, I figurd the warning was for kids who swallowed wet glue, rather than a flake of dry stuff. I tried looking up “cyanoacrylate toxicity” but didn’t come back with anything.

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**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toxicity-of-superglue/338596/4 "2006-01-05T17:55:28Z")

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When my stepdaughter was about ten she used her teeth to try and unscrew a tube of superglue. Not surprisingly the cap broke and she squirted the glue all over her teeth and tongue. She came running to me, “Daddy, daddy, help me!”, in a panic. I cleaned as much as I could out w/ my finger and called the dentist. He said it was probably no big deal since she couldn’t have ingested very much. Per his instructions I cleaned the residue from her teeth w/ a tooth pick and kept an eye on her for any unusual symptoms. It was forgotten in a day, except for teasing her that is.

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toxicity-of-superglue/338596/5 "2006-01-05T17:58:20Z")

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Fending off the inevitable calls for cites:

[Medical article](http://www.emedicine.com/ent/topic375.htm)  
[SD Mailbag item](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/msuperglue.html)

Home glue is usually the methyl variant, whereas the medical stuff is octyl - the methyl is somewhat of a skin irritant. It’s even available for home use now: [Band-Aid Liquid Bandage](http://www.bandaid.com/liquid_bandage.shtml)

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**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toxicity-of-superglue/338596/6 "2006-01-05T19:18:25Z")

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> [@SenorBeef](#):
>
> Yeah, I figurd the warning was for kids who swallowed wet glue, rather than a flake of dry stuff. I tried looking up “cyanoacrylate toxicity” but didn’t come back with anything.

Try searching for “cyanoacrylate MSDS”