Trying to figure out what this kid’s toy from the dentist is. I tried to look for it online and the only thing that looked similar was a fidget toy/spring like this:
Except this is just a solid piece of plastic. I thought maybe it just needed to be pulled apart, but it broke in half when I tried.
Maybe it’s a spring that somehow fused together? No idea what else it could possibly be.
Since it broke when you tried to pull it apart, that seems like it’s supposed to be one of those fidget slinky things you linked. But perhaps fused and brittle from age or poor manufacturing. If it was intended to be a solid piece, it would have been more solid, right?
Sometimes you see this when a cheap Chinese manufacturer buys some tooling and runs the wrong materials to save money.
I bought some zip ties like this, rather than tough and flexible nylon, they were hard and brittle like Polycarbonate; as soon as you bent them around something they snapped in half.
It was probably in that toy box for 15 years.
Kinda what I was thinking too, thanks!
Tell them to take their work out of your kid’s mouth and issue a refund!
OP broke it, so no can do under the “you broke it, you bought it” rule.