A video of a young Brazilian dental patient getting several maggots removed from her gum tissue reached mainstream media and online viewers have been both fascinated and horrified by the procedure. Ana Cardoso, aged 10, was taken to a dental clinic in Brazil by her mother Adriana after she complained of a tingling sensation in her gums and something ‘moving around’ within the tissue.
Adriana told mailonline her daughter had been complaining that she could feel something ‘moving around in her mouth’ but at first she did not take the problem seriously, saying ‘I couldn’t see anything and she didn’t seem to be in pain.’ After the condition did not improve, Adriana realised that she needed to visit the dentist, who told her that Ana was suffering with a rare form of oral myiasis – a condition where fly lava infection grows inside human tissue. Ms Cardoso said she couldn’t believe it when the dentist started to extract the maggots from around the front teeth.
The condition tends to develop in places with warmer climates and in patients that come from poorer social backgrounds or those that have suffered injury to the face. Ana’s mother said that her daughter remained ‘very calm’ while the treatment was carried out but she suspected that this was more to do with feeling helpless as she underwent the procedure.