17-year-old boy has 232 teeth removed

Nobody likes going to the dentist. But when you have 232 teeth too many, it's sort of a necessity.

dentist

by Closer staff |
Published on

During a seven-hour operation, a 17 year-old boy from India is believed to have broken records for the most teeth ever extracted.

Ashik Gaval discovered he was suffering from a rare disease that causes lots of teeth to grow in a single gum. Known as a complex composite odontoma, one doctor described Ashik's condition as "a sort of benign tumour".

Stock images used
Stock images used

Ashik's father had worried that the pain Ashik had been experiencing in his jaw was cancer. Putting an end to a year and a half of suffering, Ashik decided to leave his village to get treatment at JJ Hospital in Mumbai, where better treatment for his jaw pain was available.

"At first, we couldn't cut it out so we had to use the basic chisel and hammer to take it out" Dr Sunanda Dhiware said about the tumour. "Once we opened it, little pearl-like teeth started coming out, one-by-one".

The 28 teeth that Ashik was left with are to be capped once he has recovered from his dental ordeal. Despite completely removing 282 teeth from Ashik's mouth, experts say that the traumatic condition could occur again.

This makes us feel better about our dental checkups. What do you make of the story?

Words by Emily Mitchinson

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