Doctors removed 526 teeth from a 7-year-old boy’s mouth during surgery in Chennai, India, CBS News reported Thursday.

The boy was brought to the hospital with swelling in his jaw, according to a statement from the Saveetha Dental College and Hospital. Doctors decided to operate and discovered what they said resembled a “bag like mass” weighing almost half a pound which contained the teeth.

“This is the first ever case to be documented world wide, where so many minute teeth were found in a single individual,” the Saveetha Dental College said.

The statement said that the condition is known as “compound odontome,” and that removal of the teeth required five hours of surgery.

The boy’s parents first brought him to a hospital when he was 3 years old after they noticed swelling in his lower right jaw. But the boy did not cooperate with doctors, so his condition went undiagnosed, the dental college said.

A CBS affiliate posted a photo of the teeth that had been removed from the boy on their Twitter account.

“It was reminiscent of pearls in an oyster,” one the doctors said, according to the statement.

Write to Amy Gunia at amy.gunia@time.com.