7-year-old with rare condition has 526 teeth removed from jaw
What's the story
In an astoundingly successful surgery, doctors at the Saveetha Dental College and Hospital, Chennai, removed 526 teeth from a seven-year-old's mouth. The boy, identified as Ravindranath, suffered from a rare case of 'Compound Composite Odontoma'- a benign tumor composed of dental tissue with no demarcation between separate "toothlets". Doctors said this is the world's first documented case wherein an individual had this many teeth.
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Parents first noticed swelling when he was 3 years old
According to IANS, Professor P Senthilnathan, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the hospital said, "The parents first noticed the swelling when the boy was three years old. But they didn't bother much as the swelling wasn't much then and the boy didn't cooperate with investigative procedures either." Senthilnathan added, "Later as swelling increased, the parents brought the boy to our hospital."
Details
Surgery lasted for 5 hours
When the doctors conducted an X-Ray and a CT scan, they found that Ravindranath's lower right jaw had a lump of rudimentary teeth and decided to proceed with the surgery. The parents were immediately convinced but a team of had to sit with the boy for hours to convince him for the surgery, The Times of India reported. The surgery lasted five hours.
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Sac with tiny teeth had to be carefully removed: Senthilnathan
Further, Senthilnathan said, "Surgery was inevitable. Instead of breaking open the bone from the sides and leaving a large hole, we drilled into it from the top." He added, "Luckily, he didn't require any reconstruction of the jaw. There was a sac with tiny teeth that had to be carefully removed so they didn't chip and break away. His healthy teeth were left behind."
Surgery
Mass of teeth weighed 200g, measured 4x3.5cm
Notably, doctors removed a well-defined bag like mass, weighing 200 grams and measuring 4x3.5 cm, from the boy's mouth. The boy now has 21 teeth. "The boy was normal three days after the surgery," Pratibha Ramani, Professor and Head of the Department, Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology told IANS. Meanwhile, hospital founder-chancellor NM Veeraiyan maintained the surgery was done free of cost.
Reason
Genetics, radiation from mobile towers could be linked to odontomas
Additionally, Ramani said that although they haven't been able to find the exact cause of such odontomas, they suspect it could be linked to genetics, or environmental factors like radiation from mobile towers. The college reportedly conducted a survey of 250 people living close to mobile towers and found 10% of people had micronuclei changes, which can lead to uncontrolled/controlled multiplication of cells.
Information
In 2014, Mumbai doctors removed 232 teeth from 17-year-old's mouth
Ramani also told The Hindu that in the past, their team had removed a maximum of 26 teeth in similar cases. In 2014, doctors at a government hospital in Mumbai had removed 232 teeth from the upper jaw of a 17-year-old boy.