Teenager Is Recovering After Surgeons Removed 232 Extra Teeth From His Mouth
Look, nobody likes going to the dentist. It's just a fact of life. But it's essential that we continue to do so in order to deal with problems like gum disease, cavities.
Or in the case of this Indian teenager... too many teeth!
17-year-old India resident Ashik Garai had a sharp pain in his lower jaw for 18 months. He went to a number of doctors in his village, but none of them could identify the problem. Finally, once Ashik's face started to swell, his father took him to a hospital in Mumbai.
Doctors were shocked by what they saw when they examined him: 232 teeth! It took them seven hours to extract all of the missing teeth. Apparently Ashik had a non-malignant tumor called complex odomtoma, made up of dentine, tooth enamel, and other hard substances.
"(I have) not seen anything like this before in my 30-year career." said lead surgeon Vandana Thorawade in an interview. "According to medical literature available on the condition, it is known to affect the upper jaw and a maximum of 37 teeth have been extracted from the tumor in the past. But in Ashik's case, the tumor was found deep in the lower jaw and it had hundreds of teeth."