That must’ve been one killer smile! A boy in India went to the hospital complaining about painful swelling on the right side of his mouth. He noticed the problem over a year prior but doctors in his village weren’t able to make a proper diagnosis.

When teenager, Ashik Gavai finally head out to Mumbai to see a professional, doctors discovered the problem and immediately carried out on a 7 hour long operation. According to one of the surgeons, Dr. Sunanda Dhiware, the condition was diagnosed as a “complex composite odontoma where a single gum forms lots of teeth”. He compared the condition to a benign tumor.

According to the doctor, they couldn’t extract the teeth through surgical methods so they resorted to using a basic hammer and chisel to cut open the gum (not joking!). Once opened, little “little pear-like teeth started coming out, one by one”. In the end, doctors took out a total of 232 teeth!

Ashik now has just 28 teeth, and once recovered will receive caps to fill in the places where they removed teeth. He will require regular follow up visits to make sure the condition doesn’t return.

 

Original article can be found at Buzzfeed.