The nose helps us inhale and exhale, allowing us to breathe in air and odors, which comes in handy when food's past its expiration date. Curiously young children are notorious for inserting small objects such as food, small toys (like marbles), and even beads into their nose as a way to explore their bodies, but adults are also prone to unexpectedly find foreign bodies where they don’t belong. These nasal foreign bodies are easily removed at the doctor’s office or emergency room (ER) with minimal risk of complications.

A recent survey shows that more than 500,000 people who visited ERs had foreign body-related diagnoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The ears, throat, and nose are among the most common body parts with the most ER extraction, as a wide variety of objects can get stuck in the ear, throat, or up a nose. Adults can use a clean, steady hand, or a pair of tweezers that remove items from the nasal passages, unless it makes breathing difficult.

Examine the power of the nose with these unusual cases of foreign bodies found lodged up in both children and adult noses.

1. 3-Inch Leech Lives In Woman’s Nostril For A Month

A Scottish woman unknowingly brought back a creepy crawly souvenir from her backpacking trip in Southeast Asia in the most unusual place — up her nose. Daniela Liverani, a 24-year-old graduate experienced a series of nosebleeds before she realized it was triggered by a 3-inch leech moving up and down her nostril. "On Thursday, I jumped out the shower and I unsteamed the mirror and I had a proper good look, and I could see little ridges on him,” said Liverani, Medical Daily previously reported.

The leech is suspected to have grown bigger and bigger after feeding off the backpacker’s blood for a month. Liverani believes she could have picked up the leech from the water in Vietnam, possibly by swimming. Doctors at A&E at Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary successfully removed the parasite using a torch, forceps, and tweezers in just half an hour.

2. Chinese Toddler Rams Chopstick Up Nose And Skull

A toddler from China was rushed to the hospital after his father witnessed an adult-sized chopstick rammed up his son’s bloody nose. A CAT scan revealed 2-year-old Huang Zicheng of Wuhan, China, lodged the chopstick up his nose which penetrated three inches into his brain, Medical Daily previously reported. The chopstick failed to damage his brain nerves or arteries. Brain surgeons are baffled the toddler survived unscathed.

3. LEGO Stuck Up Boy’s Nose

A Utah boy started to sleep with his mouth open, trying to breathe when he came down with a bad case of sinus problems. Six-year-old Isaak Lasson, who started to play with LEGO toys years ago, apparently got one lodged in his nasal passage, KSL.com reported. The Lassons believe the toy had been there since Isaak was 3 years old, based on when he began to experience sinus problems.

Isaak’s doctor yielded a ball of fungus, which was found to be encasing what his parents believe to be a flexible LEGO tire. “We think he bent it in half — it's pretty flexible — and that it opened up once it got into his sinuses,” Isaak’s dad Craig Lasson said. The boy has an improved appetite, more energy, and is sleeping soundly after the LEGO removal.

4. 50 Flesh-Eating Maggots In Indian Man’s Nose

A man in India had an itch he just couldn’t scratch up his nose when doctors found 50 maggots burrowing into his face. Surgeon Dr. Meenesh Juvenkar spent a total of two hours removing the maggots, all of which had grown to about a centimeter in length after feeding off the 55-year-old man’s sinuses. The Indian man had a case of nasal myasis, which is when the nose and sinuses become infested with the larvage of flies.

Juvekar uploaded the images to YouTube, where the white maggots can be seen tightly packed into the man’s nasal cavity, Medical Daily reported. The insects can be seen wriggling in a metal bowl after being removed before Juvekar disposes them. The man made a full recovery and was saved from going blind or even dying.

5. Tooth Grows In Man’s Nose

A Saudi Arabian man experienced tooth growth in a very unusual place. The man went to his doctor after experiencing frequent nosebleeds that occurred from once to twice a month. Doctors soon discovered a half-inch-long tooth erupted up and through the nasal floor, according to the case report published in the American Journal of Case Reports.

The tooth was pulled out of the man’s nose by using general anesthesia. Although between 0.15 percent and 3.9 percent of people have more teeth than usual, the nose is not usually where they grow. The man was originally diagnosed with mesiodens, an extra tooth found in incisor teeth, and has now made a full recovery.