Dentist removes 526 teeth from 7-year-old
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The reading
A dentist in Chennai, India has removed 526 miniature teeth from the mouth of a seven-year-old boy. The boy complained to his mother that he had toothaches. She took the boy to a dentist, who found the boy had hundreds of tiny teeth in a sac (a small, empty space) inside the boy's jaw. The sac was near the molar area at the back of the jaw. Professor Pratibha Ramani, the head of a dental department at the hospital, spoke to reporters about the surgery the little boy had. She told reporters: "The teeth were of variable sizes that ranged from the smallest at 0.1mm to the largest at 3mm. They all had a small crown, enamel and a small root." She said the boy suffered from a very rare dental problem.
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The operation to remove the tiny teeth from the boy's jaw took over five hours. Professor Ramani spoke about how her team of surgeons removed the teeth. She said: "We had to drill down into the top of the lower jaw, make a window and remove the sac." She added: "As the sac was going deeper into the tissue, the size of the teeth was becoming very small." Despite having over 500 teeth in his jaw, the boy did not suffer a lot of pain. Ms Ramani said: "We had to take a lot of counseling sessions with him for him to undergo surgery. We have a very good counseling team who have expertise in dealing with kids." The boy now has 21 teeth. He is doing well and is no longer in pain.
Sources:
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/02/indian-boy-seven-found-with-526-teeth-inside-his-mouth
- https://www.npr.org/2019/08/02/747614435/surgeons-remove-more-than-500-teeth-from-boy-in-india
- http://www.maravipost.com/bizarre-indian-boy-at-7-had-526-teeth-in-his-mouth/
