10-Year-Old Brazilian Girl With Oral Myiasis Gets 15 Maggots Removed From Gums
A 10-year-old Brazilian girl was taken to a dental clinic in Brasilia after complaining of a tingling sensation in her gums as well as a sense of “things moving around” in there. It turned out that Ana Cardoso had maggots living in her gums — something that shocked both her mother, Adriana Cardoso, and her dentist.
“She had been saying for a few days that she felt something moving around in her mouth, and at first I thought she was joking,” Adriana Cardoso, 35, said. “I couldn’t see anything, and she didn’t seem to be in pain.”
Little did they know there were at least a dozen maggots crawling around in the girl’s gums, as depicted by the video below. “[I]t started getting worse, and no matter how much we brushed her teeth she said she still felt something,” Cardoso continued. “I know my daughter, and she is not one to make up stories or lie, so eventually I took her to see a dentist.”
The dentist diagnosed Ana with oral myiasis, or an infection of fly larvae (also known as maggots), which enter a mammal’s body often through an open cut or urine- or feces-covered parts. In such an infection, the maggots live in the host’s body, feeding on its tissue. They’re more likely to occur in developing countries, where hygiene and sanitation is worse.
Because oral myiasis is pretty rare, the dentists removing the maggots decided to capture it on video. “There were 15 maggots in her mouth, so we videoed the removal for our records as it is a rare occurrence,” a spokesman for the dental surgery said, according to the Daily Mail. “We also wanted to show the girl’s family what had happened and warn others.”
Yuck. Just another reason to brush your teeth twice a day.