A seven-year-old boy in India complained about severe jaw pain, and when he was taken to the hospital it was revealed to him that he had 526 teeth in his mouth. As CNN reports, the boy was taken to a hospital in Chennai, due to swelling and jaw pain. When he was given an x-ray by doctors at the hospital, it was discovered that the boy had a sac embedded in his jaw filled with a huge amount of teeth.
Dr. Prathiba Ramani explained that the surgery to remove the teeth from his mouth took place last month, but she and her team still had to closely inspect each tooth. Two surgeons operated on the boy and removed the sac from his month, which prompted hours of emptying the teeth from the sac. "There were a total of 526 teeth ranging from 0.1 millimeters (.004 inches) to 15 millimeters (0.6 inches). Even the smallest piece had a crown, root and enamel coat indicating it was a tooth," she explained.
Despite the startling discovery, the boy is expected to make a full recovery and was released just three days after the surgery. Ramani said the boy suffered from a condition called compound composite odontoma, although it's still not clear what caused the condition. It has been theorized that it could be due to either radiation or genetic disorders.
His parents revealed that they saw swelling in his jaw when he was as young as three, but they weren't able to get him to a doctor until he was seven. "Under general anesthesia, we drilled into the jaw from the top," said Dr. P Senthilnathan, head of the hospital's Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department. "We did not break the bone from the sides, meaning reconstruction surgery was not required. The sac was removed. You can think of it as a kind of balloon with small pieces inside."
