When older teenagers typically have pain around their molars and need to get teeth extracted, it’s because of wisdom teeth crowding other teeth. Ashik Gavai, a 17-year-old boy from India, proved to be a very unique case when oral surgeons removed an astonishing 232 teeth from his mouth. Around 18 months before his surgery, he began to complain about pain and swelling in his right lower jaw. When doctors in his village weren’t able to find the cause of the problem, he was referred to J.J. Hospital in Mumbai. Sunanda Dhiware could not immediately recognize the cause of the odd growth with regular tests, and decided to bring him into surgery. When she cut into the gums, they noticed dozens of tiny teeth of variable sizes. Dhiware diagnosed Gavai with complex composite odontoma, which is when enamel and dentin grow abnormally, resulting in an excessive number of tooth-like structures. The condition is rare and the teeth are essentially benign tumors. Over the course of the seven-hour-long surgery, Dhiware, another surgeon, and two assistants extracted 232 of the teeth. Dhiware told BBC that the structure couldn’t be cut out using traditional methods. This forced the to break it into pieces using a hammer and chisel, which is an outdated method that is now very rarely employed. After the odontoma was cracked, the team removed hundreds of small teeth ranging in size from a mustard seed to a marble. The dentists also removed the molar that was affected by the condition, though it was removed with traditional methods. Dhiware told IBTimes that as far as she knows, the greatest amount of teeth ever extracted because of this condition was 37, but she needs to do more research in the literature before she comments on whether this could be a world record. However, she told BBC Gavai’s condition was unlike anything she had seen in 30 years of dentistry, and she was "thrilled to get such an exciting case.” Following the surgery, Gavai was left with 28 teeth; a normal amount of teeth for an adult. Dhiware did not comment about Gavai’s prognosis, which is dependent upon early diagnosis and management. Check out these images from this incredible surgery: Source
