This is the stomach-churning moment a dentist removed 12 MAGGOTS that were living inside a pensioner's rotten teeth.

Medics visited the bedridden 70-year-old patient after he complained of pain and swelling from a suspected boil in his gums.

Two nurses and dentist Thanatnon Assava arrived at the home in Nakhon Si Thammarat, southern Thailand, where they were horrified at the state of the man's mouth and his bad breath.

The medics took him to the Phraphrom Hospital and immediately began to remove his teeth which they believed were causing the gum boils.

However, they were shocked when they pulled out the teeth one-by-one and discovered 12 maggots living in the rotten cavities.

The maggots are believed to have hatched from eggs laid by flies, which flew into the old man's mouth while he was sleeping.

The shocked dentist said: ''This is the first case I've seen of maggots inside the patient's mouth since I studied the examples of it when I was a student.

"After removing the 12th maggot I couldn't be sure that all were removed so I contacted experts at a larger hospital to consult about the case.

"She suggested that I should stitch the cavities and send the patient to the hospital in town where he can receive further care.''

The dentist added that the patient is lucky to have had surgery in time and warned the people about sleeping with their mouth open.

He said: "This should be a warning case for the people who sleep with their mouths open as there is a risk of flies laying eggs in their mouth.

"It was lucky that the team decided to respond immediately because the patient could have suffered more if the surgery was delayed."

This is the stomach-churning moment a dentist removed 12 MAGGOTS that were living inside a pensioner's rotten teeth.

Medics visited the bedridden 70-year-old patient after he complained of pain and swelling from a suspected boil in his gums.

Two nurses and dentist Thanatnon Assava arrived at the home in Nakhon Si Thammarat, southern Thailand, where they were horrified at the state of the man's mouth and his bad breath.

The medics took him to the Phraphrom Hospital and immediately began to remove his teeth which they believed were causing the gum boils.

However, they were shocked when they pulled out the teeth one-by-one and discovered 12 maggots living in the rotten cavities.

The maggots are believed to have hatched from eggs laid by flies, which flew into the old man's mouth while he was sleeping.

The shocked dentist said: ''This is the first case I've seen of maggots inside the patient's mouth since I studied the examples of it when I was a student.

"After removing the 12th maggot I couldn't be sure that all were removed so I contacted experts at a larger hospital to consult about the case.

"She suggested that I should stitch the cavities and send the patient to the hospital in town where he can receive further care.''

The dentist added that the patient is lucky to have had surgery in time and warned the people about sleeping with their mouth open.

He said: "This should be a warning case for the people who sleep with their mouths open as there is a risk of flies laying eggs in their mouth.

"It was lucky that the team decided to respond immediately because the patient could have suffered more if the surgery was delayed."