Beauty

Dubai: Cricket-ball sized tumor removed from 40-year-old expat’s jaw

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On February 24, 2025

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A Dubai resident, who had trouble eating and speaking due to a cricket-ball sized tumor on his jaw, is overjoyed about having his life back to normal. After undergoing a surgery that required removing a part of his jaw, 40-year-old Filipino expat Jesy Garcia Basilio is now on the road to recovery.

Despite living with the tumor for several years, it was a dentist visit that prompted Jesy to seek medical help for what he thought was a swelling in his mouth.

“I had lived with the swelling for years but of late it had become more uncomfortable,” he told Khaleej Times. “I was having trouble eating and even while speaking, it was uncomfortable. So I approached a dentist who did an X-ray and said that the growth was not just a swelling and I should seek medical help immediately.”

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Upon approaching Aster Hospital Mankhool, Jesy found that he had an extremely rare, non-cancerous jaw tumor.

The condition, known as Ameloblastoma, is a rare and asymptomatic disease that accounts for approximately one percent of all oral tumors, with instances of just 0.5 cases per million people per year. Usually, those affected by the disease need a radical surgery.

In the case of Jesy, the doctors decided to treat it through a multidisciplinary surgery that included removing part of the jaw and reconstructing it with a section of the bone in his leg to maintain both functional contour and the aesthetics of the face.

Surgery

The doctors treating Jesy had to meticulously plan the surgery due to its complex nature.

“His case required careful planning and collaboration across multiple disciplines,” said Dr Renju Prem, Specialist in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the hospital. “The use of advanced techniques like microvascular fibula flap reconstruction — using one of the two bones in the leg — ensured that we could restore the jaw’s functionality and provide him with a better quality of life.”

He added that Jesy required months of consistent post-operative care for a successful recovery.

Dr Rajkumar Ramachandran, Consultant in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the hospital, explained that the technique involved transferring a segment of Jesy’s calf bone, called the fibule, along with its blood vessels. “The fibula is a straight bone, while the jawbone is curved in multiple places,” he said. “The important technique is cutting the straight fibula in a manner similar to the jawbone, without disturbing its blood supply and fixing it to the remaining part of the jaw using plates and screws.”

Recovery

Jesy added that the most difficult part of the procedure was the recovery. “For ten days or so, I could not eat anything,” he said. “I was fed through a nose tube. After that I was given the go-ahead to eat soft, mushy food.”

He said that it took him almost six months to start eating normally and even now, he doesn’t use the side where he had the surgery to chew. “The doctor is giving me some trial dentures soon after which hopefully, I can start chewing on that side too,” he said.

Jesy said he is now able to eat and speak without any discomfort and that the surgery has improved his daily life considerably.