Story highlights About 12,500 children go to the ER each year for ear injuries related to cotton swabs

"The cotton-tip applicator actually works against your ear's natural cleaning mechanism," expert says

(CNN) The advice from doctors is clear: Don't use cotton swabs to clean your ears.

But people continue to use a soft-tipped plastic or paper stick to dig out the wax from their ear canals -- and it's a problem.

Authors of a new study in the Journal of Pediatrics, conducted by researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital, warn that using cotton-tip applicators to clean the ear can be dangerous, especially in the hands of little ones.

Each year, about 12,500 children under the age of 18 are treated in US emergency departments for ear injuries related to cotton swabs, the study says. That breaks down to about 34 visits per day.

"This is not like brushing your teeth every day. Children and adults do not need to clean out the ear canal of wax as part of a routine hygiene practice," said Dr. Kris Jatana, assistant professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the Ohio State University and the lead author of the study.

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