A 7-year-old Indian girl stunned dentists in New Delhi after they found a record 202 teeth in her mouth. The girl was sent to the hospital due to severe pain and swollen gums.
The mother of the girl decided to take her personally to the dentist to find out what the problem was and after her checkup, they found that there were 202 teeth in her mouth, reports the Mirror newspaper.
This ailment is described as odontoma and the characteristic thing about it is that it is a benign tumor, where several teeth grow out of one spot.
The tumor is usually found in the root of the tooth and is composed of the same material as the teeth themselves. Rarely however, is such a shockingly high number of teeth found in the human mouth, as was the case with the 7-year-old girl.
Doctors say that there have been several such cases, but 202 is definitely a tremendous number, and for a child of 7 years of age to top it all off.
After she was diagnosed, the girl underwent an operation that lasted 2 hours. After the medical intervention, the child can now chew food normally and shared that she no longer felt any pain.
Even though odontoma is not life-threatening, the operation is very delicate and requires great precision on the part of the doctors, since a single mistake can lead to irreversible jaw deformation.
Currently, the recordholder in the history of these types of cases is a 17-year-old Indian boy, who had 232 teeth removed from his mouth. Ashik Gavai went to his dentist with a heavily swollen jaw, his relatives assuming that he had some type of cancer.
After diagnosis, the medical team discovered a complex odontoma, where several teeth grow out of every tooth root.
The entire jaw of the teenager was filled with recently formed teeth and during the operation, doctors took 7 hours to remove all of them.
The boy then had to receive regular checkups, to make sure the odontoma did not re-occur.
Odontoma is caused by a permanent tooth that has not surfaced. Usually, this ailment is passed down genetically and characteristic symptoms of it are swollen gums and difficulty swallowing.
