At first, the village doctors were not able to see the cause of the pain and swelling on the right side of his lower jaw. The family of the Indian boy brought him to J.J. Hospital in Mumbai when they noticed that the swelling became worse. After being diagnosed with complex composite odontoma*, the medical team in the hospital scheduled an operation session to extract 232 teeth from his jaw. The procedure was conducted on July 21, 2014. The moment the doctors cut his gums, they noticed so much teeth growing in multiple areas.

In the 7 hour surgery, they were able to extract 232 teeth from the boy. They also said that some teeth could not be taken out using the same usual procedure with that they do when extracting normal teeth. They had to use a hammer and chisel in order to force and break those teeth out of the boy’s mouth. It is considered an outdated method, however, they said it had to be done. They also had to remove his molars but this time, they use the traditional methods.

The dentist, Sunanda Dhivare-Palwankar, said the most number of teeth that was ever extracted was 37. Of course 232 is a far cry from 37. As for this being a world record, they said they had to do more research on the incident. In the dentist’s 30 years of dentistry, she said that this has been one of her rarest cases.

After the surgery, the boy was left with 28 teeth, which is normal to boys at his age level.

• Complex composite odontoma is the abnormal growth of enamel and dentin, causing an excessive number of tooth-like structures. This condition is extremely rare and the teeth are considered benign tumors.