A man in Brazil has avoided death by the skin of his teeth.

Eighty-one-year-old Zacarias Pacheco de Moraes managed to survive when his dentures deflected a bullet going toward his head.

Moraes was working in a bar he owns in the small city of Alta Floresta when he was shot, although the circumstances surrounding the shooting are sketchy.

Moraes was brought to a hospital and is currently in stable condition, although he may lose part of his vision. A hospital official says the bullet most likely would have gone to Moraes' brain if it hadn't hit his dentures first before winding up in his throat.

The official said the bullet was not removed right away because that kind of surgery poses too many dangers.

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