From Enirates247

A 17-year-old girl from Congo was living with a large growing facial tumor for more than 10 years.

Initially, there was some swelling inside her gums and then it simply kept growing, the girl said in the video shot by TLC UK’s “Body Bizarre,”. She adds: “We went to hospital and they didn’t know what it was — they did nothing.”

The tumour grew and soon resembled a football. The girl’s misery seemed unending as she was forced to stay indoors for fear of being stared at by others.

The girl was scared that the tumour might suffocate her, UK daily Mirror reported.

However, fortunately for the teenager, help came in the form of a floating hospital known as the Africa Mercy. These “Mercy Ships” travel around the world and perform medical procedures on those who are too poverty-stricken to pay for or don’t have access to proper treatment.

The girl was operated upon for four hours and it involved removing the tumor and replacing her lower jaw with titanium plates, Huffington Post reported.

After a six-month recovery period, the girl will be able to get artificial teeth that will help her with chewing.

IMAGES: YouTube

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Related story:

232 teeth extracted from boy’s mouth

From Emirates247

[Teen] Suffered from condition known as complex odontoma

AFP Surgeons in Mumbai have removed 232 teeth from the mouth of an Indian teenager in what they believe may be a world-record operation, the hospital said Thursday.

Ashik Gavai, 17, sought medical help for a swelling on the right side of his lower jaw and the case was referred to the city’s JJ Hospital, where they found he was suffering from a condition known as complex odontoma, head of dentistry Sunanda Dhivare-Palwankar told AFP.

“We operated on Monday and it took us almost seven hours. We thought it may be a simple surgery but once we opened it there were multiple pearl-like teeth inside the jaw bone,” she said.

After removing those they also found a larger “marble-like” structure which they struggled to shift and eventually had to “chisel out” and remove in fragments, she added.

The youngster’s father, Suresh Gavai, said that the family had been worried that Ashik’s swelling was a cancerous growth.

“I was worried that it may turn out to be cancer so I brought him to Mumbai,” Gavai told the Mumbai Mirror newspaper.

Dhivare-Palwankar said the literature they had come across on the condition showed a maximum of 37 teeth being removed in such a procedure, whereas she and her team had counted more than 232 taken from Gavai’s mouth.

“I think it could be a world record,” she said.

Gavai’s jawbone structure was maintained during the operation so it should heal without any deformities, the surgeon added.

Pic: YouTube

For more on this story go to: http://www.emirates247.com/offbeat/crazy-world/232-teeth-extracted-from-boy-s-mouth-2014-07-24-1.557537