A teen from India recently had 232 teeth removed … all at once.

According to the dental surgeons in Mumbai, 17-year-old Ashik Gavai was suffering from a condition called odontoma; a mouth tumor compromised of teeth and teeth-like substances. The diagnosis was confirmed after Gavai’s jaw started swelling. Through x-rays, the doctors determined that Gavai had a large tumor composed of a large mass of enamel, dentin, pulp, cementum, and teeth of different sizes.

“We operated on Monday and it took us almost seven hours,” the head of dentistry at JJ Hospital Sunanda Dhivare-Palwankar said. “We thought it may be a simple surgery but once we opened it there were multiple pearl-like teeth inside the jaw bone.”

“At first, we couldn’t cut it out so we had to use the basic chisel and hammer to take it out,” Dhivare-Palwankar added. “Once we opened it, little pearl-like teeth started coming out, one-by-one. Initially, we were collecting them, they were really like small white pearls. But then we started to get tired. We counted 232 teeth.”

Indian teen has a 'world record' 232 teeth removed by surgeons http://t.co/7S8SjdIUKD pic.twitter.com/8izXfFWpPe

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) July 24, 2014

Gavai’s father said that he is just relieved that the tumor was not cancerous. “I was worried that it may turn out to be cancer so I brought him to Mumbai,” Suresh Gavai said.

Dhivare-Palwanker says Gavai’s teeth extraction could possibly set a world record. She added that, as far as she knows, the most teeth to be extracted at once was 37. “According to medical literature available on the condition, 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 tumor was found deep in the lower jaw and it had hundreds of teeth,” she said. “I think it could be a world record.”

Image via Wikimedia Commons