Ashik Gavai, an Indian teenager underwent a seven-hour operation in which 232 teeth were removed. Unheard of according to the dentists who treated him.
Incredible but true. In Bombay, a 17-year-old Indian boy had 232 teeth lodged in his gum. Ashik Gavai suffered from a complex form of odontoma, a dental disease.
7 hours of operation
On Monday, July 21, 17-year-old Indian Ashik Gavai went to Bombay hospital after suffering from inflammation of his right cheek. When the doctors took care of him, they could not believe their eyes: “At first, we could not open his mouth”, tells the BBC Sunanda Dhiware, director of the dental department at JJ Hospital in Bombay. “When we were successful, teeth small like pearls started to come out. We counted 232 ”, she continues. The operation lasted no less than seven hours and involved two surgeons and two assistants. The young Indian suffered from a disease called odontoma.
Benign tumor
Odontoma is a benign tumor of the tooth. It develops in the gum at the level of the upper jawbone. Several teeth of varying sizes are formed. The disease mainly affects young people, on average by the age of 14. It has no serious repercussions for health and is systematically treated by dental exicision. Most of the time, the odontoma is asymptomatic but signs can appear late (inflammation of the cheeks, sore gums). Ashik Gavai had been suffering from it for 18 months.
The case of the Indian teenager goes beyond anything dentists could have imagined: “I had never seen such a thing in my 30-year career,” says Dr. Sunanda Dhiware. And for good reason: doctors are talking about a world record.
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