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A team of unwritten surgeons reportedly removed 232 teeth from the mouth of a 17 - year - previous son in India on July 21 . The son was diagnosed with a shape called complex composite odontoma , a rare eccentric of tumour that pretend the jaw or gums , his doctors enjoin .
Ashik Gavai was admitted to JJ Hospital in Mumbai with swelling in his veracious jaw , Dr. Sunanda Dhiware , read/write head of the hospital ’s dental department , told BBC News .
The boy had been experiencing soreness from the prominence for 18 month , Dhiware tell . His father , Suresh Gavai , tell the Mumbai Mirror that his boy begin complaining of severe painful sensation a month ago .
In people with complex composite odontoma , a tumor spring up in the jaw andcontains tooth - like structures , as well as blob of enamel and dentine , the tissue that make up teeth .
" Once we unfold [ the tumor ] , picayune pearl - like teeth embark on coming out , one - by - one , " Dhiware told the BBC . " Initially , we were gather up them , they were really like small white pearl . But then we started to get commonplace . We counted 232 teeth . "
However , these pearl - like objects , are n’t really tooth in the reliable sense of the word , according to Dr. J. David Johnson an associate professor at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine and spokesperson for the American Dental Association . [ 16 Oddest Medical Cases ]
" Some masses call them ' denticals ' or ' toothlets . ' They ’re not really true teeth because , if they were to flare up , there would be no periodontal ligament or root structure , and they ’re always distort , " Johnson said .
Although these distorted teeth do n’t typically cause symptom , he said they can lead to job and do postulate to be removed , he told Live Science .
In the case of Ashik Gavai , the toothlets did seem to be causing some trouble , however .
" If they ’re mature into an area where there are nerves , that can generate some pain sensation . Sometimes infection will take form in connexion with them , and that can generate pain sensation as well , " Johnson suppose .
Odontomas are the most common type of odontogenic tumors , comprising about 22 pct of all of this variety of tumor diagnosed by dentists andoral surgeons . Although it is n’t clear exactly why these growths form , trauma , infection and possibly growth air pressure may be creditworthy , Johnson said .
After the teeth are remove surgically , the tumour is n’t probable to come back , he said . And for Gavai , now that the tumour is gone , the 28 teeth that remain in his mouthpiece will likely be healthier .
" Typically we recommend the remotion of the odontoma so it does n’t pretend the health of the adjacent teeth or step in with the eruption of the other normal teeth , " Johnson said .
Although Johnson said he has in person never see an odontoma as large as the one described in this picky case , he did not express doubtfulness that such amassive tumorcould form . He pronounce that , like Gavai , most of the patients he sees with odontomas are teenagers , with the average age for the shape being 14 . Males are slightly more probable to get these growths than female , he said .
