Dentists at a hospital in India removed more than 500 teeth from the mouth of a 7-year-old boy who had suffered a swollen jaw for years. Photo courtesy of Saveetha Dental College and Hospital

Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Dental surgeons in India said a boy suffering from a swollen jaw turned out to have 526 teeth that needed to be removed.

Saveetha Dental College and Hospital in Chennai said the boy's parents first noticed the jaw swelling when the boy was three years old, but they did not want him undergoing any procedures at such a young age.


The parents decided to have the boy, now 7, examined when the condition continued to advance.

A surgeon discovered a "compound odontome," a bag-like mass, in the boy's mouth, and it was removed.

The mass turned out to contain 526 tooth-like structures. The objects varied in size, but each had a crown and root-like structures, giving them the shape of teeth.

"It was reminiscent of pearls in an oyster," the dental surgeon said.

The hospital said it was "the first ever case to be documented world wide where so many minute teeth were found in a single individual."