232 Tiny 'Toothlets' Removed from Teenager in India

A team of oral surgeons reportedly removed 232 teeth from the mouth of a 17-year-old boy in India on July 21. The boy was diagnosed with a condition called complex composite odontoma, a rare type of tumor that affects the jaw or gums, his doctors said.

Ashik Gavai was admitted to JJ Hospital in Mumbai with swelling in his right jaw, Dr. Sunanda Dhiware, head of the hospital's dental department, told BBC News.

The boy had been experiencing discomfort from the swelling for 18 months, Dhiware said. His father, Suresh Gavai, told the Mumbai Mirror that his son began complaining of severe pain a month ago.

In people with complex composite odontoma, a tumor grows in the jaw and contains tooth-like structures, as well as blobs of enamel and dentin, the tissues that make up teeth.

"Once we opened [the tumor], little pearl-like teeth started coming out, one-by-one," Dhiware told the BBC. "Initially, we were collecting them, they were really like small white pearls. But then we started to get tired. We counted 232 teeth."

However, these pearl-like objects, aren't really teeth in the truest sense of the word, according to Dr. J. David Johnson an associate professor at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine and spokesperson for the American Dental Association. [16 Oddest Medical Cases]

"Some people call them 'denticals' or 'toothlets.' They're not really true teeth because, if they were to erupt, there would be no periodontal ligament or root structure, and they're always deformed," Johnson said.

Although these malformed teeth don't typically cause symptoms, he said they can lead to problems and do need to be removed, he told Live Science.

In the case of Ashik Gavai, the toothlets did seem to be causing some trouble, however.

"If they're growing into an area where there are nerves, that can generate some pain. Sometimes infections will form in association with them, and that can generate pain as well," Johnson said.

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232 Tiny 'Toothlets' Removed from Teenager in India