Thursday, 24 July 2014
JJ doctors remove 232 teeth from Buldhana teenager
MUMBAI: Doctors at the JJ Hospital in Byculla created a record of
sorts by removing 232 teeth from a teenager, who came in with routine
complaints of swelling and pain in the mouth. There are very few cases
of this tooth developmental anomaly recorded in the dental literature,
said doctors.
Ashik Gavai (17), a class X student from Buldhana, had a swelling on the right side of the mouth when he came to JJ Hospital on June. This was after several doctors failed to diagnose his condition. A battery of tests later, JJ doctors concluded that it was a rare abnormal growth affecting the second molar tooth on the lower right side of his jaw. The only solution was surgery.
But a bigger surprise awaited them during the surgery that lasted over seven hours on Monday. "We started picking small teeth from the abnormal molar. These pearlies were of varying sizes, some as tiny as a grain of mustard and some almost the size of a marble. At the final count, we had a total of 232 of them," said Dr Sunanda Dhivare-Palwankar, head of dental department at JJ Hospital. She said that they were developing as regular tooth and would have got more painful eventually. "The fact that it was coming from a single molar was very unique," she said.
During the surgery, they also found a rock-like formation inside the affected tooth, which had to be removed with a drill. "It is a developmental anomaly that had affected the molar tooth at its formation stage or rather when he was a child. The medical term for the condition is complex composite odonntom. In other words, it could also be called a benign tumour," she added. Gavai had eating difficulties, which was getting worse. Doctors in her team will now be looking up medical literature to ascertain whether or not it qualifies for a world record.
In the course of surgery, the doctors also crushed an upcoming wisdom tooth. Doctors said that despite the abnormal molar tooth growth, the jawbone had not weakened.
Ashik Gavai (17), a class X student from Buldhana, had a swelling on the right side of the mouth when he came to JJ Hospital on June. This was after several doctors failed to diagnose his condition. A battery of tests later, JJ doctors concluded that it was a rare abnormal growth affecting the second molar tooth on the lower right side of his jaw. The only solution was surgery.
But a bigger surprise awaited them during the surgery that lasted over seven hours on Monday. "We started picking small teeth from the abnormal molar. These pearlies were of varying sizes, some as tiny as a grain of mustard and some almost the size of a marble. At the final count, we had a total of 232 of them," said Dr Sunanda Dhivare-Palwankar, head of dental department at JJ Hospital. She said that they were developing as regular tooth and would have got more painful eventually. "The fact that it was coming from a single molar was very unique," she said.
During the surgery, they also found a rock-like formation inside the affected tooth, which had to be removed with a drill. "It is a developmental anomaly that had affected the molar tooth at its formation stage or rather when he was a child. The medical term for the condition is complex composite odonntom. In other words, it could also be called a benign tumour," she added. Gavai had eating difficulties, which was getting worse. Doctors in her team will now be looking up medical literature to ascertain whether or not it qualifies for a world record.
In the course of surgery, the doctors also crushed an upcoming wisdom tooth. Doctors said that despite the abnormal molar tooth growth, the jawbone had not weakened.
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