A dentist investigating a schoolgirl with swollen gums was horrified to discover more than a dozen maggots living inside her mouth.
Ana Cardoso, 10, had been taken to the clinic in Brazil after complaining of a tingling sensation in her gums and things ‘moving around’.
Her stunned mother Adriana, 35, said: ‘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.
‘I couldn’t see anything and she didn’t seem to be in pain.
‘But then it started getting worse and no matter how much we brushed her teeth she said she still felt something.
‘I know my daughter and she is not one to make up stories or lie, so eventually I took her to see a dentist.’
There, Ana, from the Brazilian capital, Brasilia, was diagnosed with a rare form of oral myiasis.
This is a fly lava maggot infection that grows in humans and animals.
‘I couldn’t believe it when they said she had a disease and then started pulling the maggots out,’ said Ms Cardoso.
‘I thought I was going to be sick.’
A spokesman for the dental surgery said: ‘There were 15 maggots in her mouth so we videoed the removal for our records as it is a rare occurrence.