Doctors removed 232 teeth from teenager

Usually, teenagers experience pain around their molars because of wisdom teeth crowding other teeth and it usually results in them being extracted.  A surprising situation in India occurred when a 17-year-old boy named Ashik Gaval had 232 teeth extracted from his mouth. He complained about pain and swelling in his right lower jaw about 18 months prior to the surgery. He was referred to J.J Hospital in Mumbai after the doctors in his village could not figure out the problem. Sunanda Dhiware couldn’t find the cause of the odd situation initially with regular tests but brought him into surgery to dig deeper. She noticed dozens of tiny teeth of different sizes as soon as she cut into the gums.  

Gavai was diagnosed with composite odontoma, which is when the enamel and dentin develop bizarrely, displaying in an excessive number of tooth-like structures. The teeth are benign tumors and the condition is rare. The process was seven hours and the structure could not be cut using traditional methods. Dhiware, another surgeon, and two assistants were forced to break the structure into pieces using a hammer and chisel, an obsolete technique. Teeth ranging in size from a mustard seed to a marble were extracted and dentists also removed the molar that was affected by the condition.

Dhiware mentioned to IBTimes that this might be the most amount of extracted teeth ever. She told BBC that Gavai’s situation was the strangest thing she’s seen in all her years of dentistry, and she was “thrilled to get such an exciting case.” Gavai is now left with 28 teeth, which is the normal amount for an adult.