Seven-year-old Ravindranath woke up one morning last month with complaints of jaw pain, and was swiftly taken to hospital. There, according to CNN, doctors informed the boy that x-rays revealed he had a sac in his lower jaw containing 526 abnormal teeth- yes, 526 teeth. A team of doctors quickly came up with a plan to remove the sac. They began by emptying it out in order to confirm the number of teeth.
Dr. Prathiba Ramani, head of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology at Saveetha Dental College and Hospital, told CNN “There were a total of 526 teeth ranging from 0.1 millimeters (.004 inches) to 15 millimeters (0.6 inches). Even the smallest piece had a crown, root and enamel coat indicating it was a tooth.” Another surgeon working on the team explained their procedure saying, "Under general anesthesia, we drilled into the jaw from the top. We did not break the bone from the sides, meaning reconstruction surgery was not required. The sac was removed. You can think of it as a kind of balloon with small pieces inside."
Ravindranath apparently suffers from an extremely rare condition known as compound composite odontoma. As for a cause, Ramani believes it is either genetic or due to an environmental factor such as radiation. Three days after the surgery, Ravindranath was released and is expected to make a full recovery.
