A LITTLE MUCH AND TOO MUCH TEETH: MEET THE MAN AND THE TEENAGER WITH THE MOST TEETH 

Did you know that an Indian man has been discovered to have 37 teeth while a teenage boy with a condition known as odontoma was found to have 526 teeth inside his mouth?

The average person has 32 teeth. But what happens when we have too many teeth? Not one or two more, but five or more extra teeth!

Vijay Kumar who hails from Bangalore in India is the world record holder for the person with the most teeth. Kumar has 37 teeth in his mouth, with five more than the average person. According to the Guinness World Records, Kumar beats the previous record of 36 teeth.

The 27-year-old (as of 2017) has always been aware of his unique feature, but did not realise it was a world record. He believes this accolade makes up for the challenges he faces on a daily basis.

“Wherever I go, I have to brush after lunch,” he told Guinness. "Sometimes if I don't clean it up, seeds get stuck in the upper jaw.”

You might wonder how one person can grow so many teeth. But according to Dr Kevin Smith, a dentist from Cape Town, South Africa, “Extra teeth are found occasionally. [There is space] behind the wisdoms, as well as in the incisor area, but it is not common.”

Dr Shenaaz Chodree, a dentist from Johannesburg agrees with Dr Smith. “Genetics can play a part as to whether you have missing teeth or even extra teeth. The body produces the tooth buds that eventually form the teeth. It's determined a long time before the actual tooth erupts.”

It is not clear whether Kumar has a history of an abnormal number of teeth in his family. However, the story is different for a 7-year-old boy (as of 2019) who complained of jaw pain, but was found to have 526 teeth inside his mouth, according to the hospital in India where he was admitted and treated in September because of swelling and pain near his molars in his lower right jaw.

When doctors scanned and x-rayed his mouth, they found a sac embedded in his lower jaw filled with "abnormal teeth," Dr. Prathiba Ramani, the head of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology at Saveetha Dental College and Hospital, told CNN.

While the surgery to remove the teeth took place last month, doctors needed time to individually examine each tooth before they could confirm their findings. After discovering the sac, two surgeons removed it from the boy's mouth. Then Ramani's team took four to five hours to empty the sac to confirm its contents and discovered the hundreds of teeth.

"There were a total of 526 teeth ranging from 0.1 millimeters (.004 inches) to 15 millimeters (0.6 inches). Even the smallest piece had a crown, root and enamel coat indicating it was a tooth," she said.

The boy who was released three days after the surgery, according to Ramani, was suffering from a very rare condition called compound composite odontoma. She said what caused the condition is unclear, but it could be genetic or it could be due to environmental factors like radiation.

After surgery, the boy now has a healthy count of 21 teeth, says Dr. P. Senthilnathan, head of the hospital's Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department and one of two surgeons who operated on the boy.

Sources:

You can read the full article here:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/01/asia/india-boy-teeth-intl-hnk-scli/index.html

https://www.news24.com/life/wellness/body/condition-centres/oral-health/news/see-meet-the-man-with-the-most-teeth-in-the-world-20170315