Aims: Myiasis is a disease caused by the invasion of tissues by larvae of flies. The aim of this study was to carry out a review of reported cases of oral and maxillofacial myiasis in older adults and to show a case report of oral myiasis in a 95-year-old frail man with severe Alzheimer's disease from Brazil.
Methods and results: Between 1988 and 2017, 35 oral and maxillofacial myiasis cases were reported in older adults in English-language studies from PubMed and Lilacs databases.
Conclusions: Oral and maxillofacial myiasis in older adults showed low incidence and good prognosis of cure, when there were no systemic complications. Weakness, frailty, dementia, oral lesions, labial incompetence, poor oral hygiene, and bad breath were associated with this disease in reported cases. Preferential therapy choices were debridement alone or combined with Ivermectin. In this case report, debridement and Ivermectin prescription was an effective therapy for an older adult with severe Alzheimer's disease.
Keywords: case reports; ectoparasitic infestations; frail elderly; mouth; myiasis.
© 2018 Special Care Dentistry Association and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.