Silke Jasso
It was definitely a terrifying dentist visit for a 7-year-old boy in India after doctors removed 526 teeth in one sitting! The highly unusual surgery was performed at Saveetha Dental College and Hospital in Chennai. The boy was taken to the hospital due to swelling in his lower jaw. After inspection, doctors believed he was suffering from “Compound Composite Odontoma,” which are odontogenic benign tumors composed of dental tissue.
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This wasn’t the first time the boy was taken to the hospital for jaw pain. When he was 3-years-old, his parents went to consult with doctors but he refused to cooperate for any investigative procedures, so his condition was left undiagnosed for over four years. Now, at the age of 7, the boy’s parents worried he might have had cancer in his jaw, which is why they conducted x-rays. When doctors decide to operate, they found what they described as a “bag-like mass,” which was removed entirely. The sack weighed almost half a pound, and in it were 526 tooth-like structures inside the boy’s mouth. To put that number into perspective, great white sharks have about 300 teeth!
This 7-year-old boy had to have 526 extra teeth removed https://t.co/8v78LbdwP3 pic.twitter.com/IiNFv8axN2
— CNN (@CNN) August 1, 2019
After a five-hour-long surgery, doctors removed every single extra tooth, comparing the removal to “pearls in an oyster” or a “pandora box of miniature teeth.” The teeth range in sizes from 1 mm to 15 mm and resembled a tooth with a crown covered by enamel and root-like structure. According to doctors, this is the first time they have ever seen so many teens in a single individual. Although there is no problem in the growth of other teeth in the 7-year-old, the growth of molar teeth is permanently affected. Meaning he requires molar implants after he turns 16. Luckily, the procedure didn’t require reconstruction. Surgeons believe the lesion, known as compound odontoma, may be attributed to environmental or genetic factors.
According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, odontomas are discovered in people during their first two decades of life but can be diagnosed at any age in certain cases. So yes, here is your daily reminder to always go to your dental checkup ups…just in case there are any teeth hiding around there.
