After severe jaw pain and an X-ray of the mouth, a 7-year-old Indian child had 526 teeth, CNN reports.
The boy went last month to the hospital in Chennai, a city in southern India. He had inflammation of his lower jaw on the molars. When the doctors gave him an x-ray, they found a "pocket" inside his jaw filled with "abnormal teeth," according to Dr. Prathiba Ramani, Head of Oral and Maxillofacial Diseases at Saveetha Dental College. Hospital.
Two surgeons removed the boy's pouch, then 4 to 5 hours were needed to empty it and uncover hundreds of teeth.
"There was a total of 526 teeth ranging from 0.1 millimeters to 15 millimeters, even the smallest had a root and enamel indicating that it was a tooth," said the doctor.
A rare and poorly known disease
The boy was suffering from a sporadic disease called composite odontoma. The cause is not known, but it could be genetic or due to environmental factors such as radiation.
His parents even explained to the doctors that they noticed an inflammation of the jaw when the boy was only three years old, but they could not do anything because he did not hold up and did not let the doctor examine.
Dr. Senthilnathan, head of the hospital's oral and maxillofacial surgery department and one of the two surgeons who operated the boy, detailed the procedure.
"Under general anesthesia, we pierced the upper jaw," he said. "We did not fracture the bone on the sides, which means that a reconstruction operation was not necessary. The bag was removed. You can imagine it as a kind of balloon with small pieces to inside. "
Everything went well.
The boy now has 21 healthy teeth, according to Dr. Senthilnathan.
The boy now has 21 healthy teeth, according to Dr. Senthilnathan.