A baby was born with a second mouth, and doctors had to surgically remove the extra teeth and tongue

• A baby was born with a second mouth that had a working tongue and teeth, according to a May case report.
• Typically the condition, which is called facial duplication, is the result of an underlying health problem like brain damage. In this case, the baby girl didn't have any other health problems.
• To treat the baby, doctors surgically removed the tissue, teeth, and lining of the second mouth and stitched it closed. The baby girl was able to eat and developed normally following the procedure.

In an extremely rare case, a baby was born with two mouths, including an extra tongue and teeth, according to a recent report in the journal BMJ Case Reports.

The doctors who authored the study diagnosed the baby with facial duplication, a condition that has only been reported in medical literature 35 times since 1900.

Before the baby was born, doctors noticed she had a small growth on her jawline while in her mother's womb during the third trimester of pregnancy. They though it was a cyst at first, but when she was born, they realized it was actually a second mouth.

The baby's second mouth was located about one centimeter below her original mouth, and was 13 centimeter deep, according to the doctors. When she had her two-week check-up, they found that she had no issues eating out of her original mouth, and that the only symptom she had was a clear fluid that drained from the growth. The doctors also noted that her second tongue seemed to move in sync with her original tongue.

They decided to wait until the baby was six months old to perform surgery. When they did, they first removed the second mouth's mucosal lining and found teeth underneath even though the baby hadn't grown any teeth in her original mouth yet. They removed the teeth and the extra tissue, and were able to stitch up the baby's jawline.

Six months later, the baby's scar had completely healed and she could eat well, the doctors said. The only side effect of the surgery was her inability to frown on the right side of her face where the second mouth was removed.

According to the doctors, facial duplication can be a serious diagnosis if it's associated with other health disorders, like brain and spine defects or absence of portions of the brain or skull.

Luckily, the baby girl they treated didn't have any underlying health problems, which the doctors said were even more rare than the condition itself.

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