Dentists in India pull more than 500 teeth from 7-year-old boy's mouth
Dentists in India have pulled 526 teeth from a young boy's mouth, the most they say they've ever seen in a single person, according to the Times of India.
P. Ravindran, who is just 7 years old, had surgery to remove the extra teeth at a hospital in the Indian city of Chennai last month. Doctors said the operation went well and that the boy now has just 21 teeth — a normal amount for his age.
Despite their success, surgeons said they had never encountered anything like this before.
"We have never seen this many teeth in any one site," Dr. Prathibha Ramani, a department head at Saveetha Dental College, told the Times of India.
Ravindran was originally brought to the hospital after complaining of pain and swelling in his lower jaw. It was then that doctors found a "bag-like" tumor containing the extra teeth.
"They looked like pearls in an oyster," Dr. Ramani told the Times of India. "Even the smallest piece had a crown, root and an enamel coating like a tooth."
Doctors said it took several hours to convince Ravindran to cooperate and another five hours to complete the surgery. After the teeth were removed, the 7-year-old told reporters he had "no pain."
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It seems to be the largest number of teeth ever pulled from a single person's mouth. In 2014, dentists in Mumbai extracted 232 teeth from a 17-year-old, a feat doctors called a "world record" at the time.
That case was similar to Ravindran's, as both involved tumorous growths. The rare condition is called compound composite odontoma.
Surgeons said Ravindran should be completely fine following the operation, although he may need molar implants when he turns 16.
