Ashik Gavai , a 17 year old boy was brought in with a swelling in his right jaw to Mumbai's JJ Hospital's dental department. The teenager had been suffering for 18 months and travelled to the city from his village after local doctors could not identify the cause of the problem, and suspected cancerous swelling.

After detailed examination and scanning the swelling was diagnosed as a complex composite Odontoma, which is a condition when a single gum forms lots of teeth. It is a benign tumor and very little is found in the medical literature. It is known to affect the upper jaw and a maximum of 37 teeth have been extracted from the tumor in the past.

But in Ashik's case, the tumour was found deep in the lower jaw and it had hundreds of teeth, which of course may be the first case in medical history. Ashik's tumor was so hard that the two surgeons who operated on him had to use chisel and hammer to extract the tumor from his jaw bone. Once opened , little pear-like teeth started coming out , until the team counted 232 teeth. It took seven hours to complete the surgery.

The team was led by Dr Vandana Thorawade who heads the hospital's ENT (ear, nose and throat) department and Dr Sunanda Dhiware, head of Mumbai's JJ Hospital's dental department.

Now Ashik has only 28 teeth which is appropriate for his age.

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Boy's Teeth on display after surgery