A mum claims putting off going to the dentist left her 'half a zombie' after an abscess on her gum turned into a flesh-eating disease.
Meg Urquhart admits she 'avoided' going to the dentist and cancelled her appointment last spring when the pain started to feeling better, even though she really knew she needed root canal surgery.
The 49-year-old was eventually forced to go to hospital in October when she developed a painful abscess on her gum.
A doctor popped the abscess and sent her home but she was awoken by paramedics the next afternoon, who were called after her family found her unresponsive, with the left side of her face swollen and her eye sealed shut.
The mum-of-four was soon back in hospital where professionals confirmed that she had a bacterial infection in her face.
After four weeks of antibiotics, CT scans and constant surgeries, the baffled team of doctors eventually found that Meg's abscess had become necrotizing fasciitis - a deadly flesh-eating disease.
The infection had eaten away at the skin's tissue, lifting the flesh off Meg's body and 'skinning [her] alive'.
The home construction and renovation worker claims that she was 'scared senseless', and was told by doctors that if she hadn't come back into hospital she would be 'dead today'.
Meg, from Brampton, Ontario, Canada, who has set up a Go Fund Me page, said: "They had a hard time diagnosing it. Flesh eating disease [usually] works very rapidly.
"For me, it felt like a slow death. Apparently, flesh eating disease works very fast - it's in, it's out, you're dead.
"In my system, it was so slow. They couldn't properly diagnose me for at least four weeks. Then they came to me in the fifth week, and said that I had flesh eating disease.
"And I was like, 'Oh, so I'm half a zombie? Great'.
"I was scared. I was scared senseless.
"At that point, I realised they almost lost me. My entire family almost lost me.
"[The doctors] said that if I'd stuck around, and said I didn't need to go to the hospital and tried to fight it off, I'd be dead. I'd be dead today.
"The doctors have no clue how this turned into a flesh-eating disease. It's very strange.
"I didn't know you could skin a human alive, but you can - and they confirmed it. You can literally lift your skin off your body, no problem.
"I was one-quarter skinned. It was itchy, almost like a throbbing.
"It was almost like the sensation [in my skin] was trying to come back so I was calling it healing pain to make myself feel better. Trust me, it hurts."
Doctors inserted tubes into Meg's head and neck to drain out any pus and dead tissue caused by the infection, before a plastic surgeon later stitched up the affected areas.
The petrified parent was able to return home in January after nine weeks in hospital, and is now slowly on the mend.
Meg describes the experience as 'hell' and is now encouraging others to keep up with their dental checks - as she believes this never would have happened if she hadn't avoided the dentist in spring.
Meg said: "At my hospital they were massaging my head, draining it and forcing [the pus and tissue] out. It was work, and it actually hurt to drain.
"It was touch and go. They would never give me a date that I could possibly go home - not once.
"Ultimately, it was very painful. I had to keep positive, as best I could.
"Now I'm suffering from other strange things, such as fainting spells. I can't be alone at any given time.
"I feel like more people should know about this, because a lot of people avoid the dentist. This is why this happened to me, because I avoided the dentist in the spring.
"I got [the abscess] in spring. I knew I needed a root canal, and it flared for about two days and then it disappeared.
"I started feeling better, it stopped hurting, I didn't go. I cancelled my appointment. No one wants to go to the dentist when your mouth isn't hurt.
"In times like this, you have to [maintain a positive attitude] because if you don't laugh, you're going to cry."
