(UPI) A 9-year-old Virginia boy earned an unusual Guinness World Record when he became the youngest person to have a wisdom tooth extracted.

Guinness World Records said Ryan Scarpelli's orthodontist, Dr Kelly Morgan of Morgan Orthodontics, noticed in April 2021 that the boy had a wisdom tooth and a molar growing on top of each other in the upper-left side of his mouth.

"My orthodontist said it needed to be removed so that the molar could drop properly," Scarpelli told Guinness World Records.

Scarpelli's tooth was removed when he was 9 years and 327 days old, making him the youngest person to have a wisdom tooth extracted. The previous record holder, Matthew Adams, was only a few days older when his tooth was taken out at 9 years and 339 days in 2002.

Wisdom teeth, the last permanent teeth to come in, typically show up -- and are often removed -- in a person's late teens or early 20s.

"It was scary, but it really wasn't that bad. And before I knew it, my mouth was back to normal," Scarpelli said.

His mother, Shelly Scarpelli, said she did some research after the operation and confirmed her suspicion that her son was a new world record holder.

"I knew that 9 years old was very young for a wisdom tooth to be removed so I did some research and learned that the youngest person on record was 9 years and 339 days," she said.

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