A Michigan mom addicted to drinking super-thick tea has lost all her teeth and is now battling a rare bone disease.
The 47-year-old had consumed at least a pitcher of the popular hot drink, made from at least 100 tea bags, every day for the last 17 years.
It led to her developing skeletal fluorosis — a bone disease caused by consuming too much of the mineral fluoride.
The Detroit Free Press reports she saw doctors at the city's Henry Ford Hospital after getting pains and stiffness in her back, arms, legs and hips.
X-rays showed areas of abnormally dense bone in some of her spinal vertebrae and calcifications in the ligaments of her arms.
The New England Journal of Medicine reported that her fluoride levels were four times higher than is normal.
Dr. Sudhaker Rao told LiveScience she was referred to him suspected of having cancer, but he recognised her condition after coming across it in his native India.
He said excess fluoride is usually removed by the kidneys but if someone consumes too much of it then the mineral forms deposits on the bones.
The woman has now given up drinking tea, and over time is expected to make a full recovery as the deposits slowly disappear as her bones repair themselves.
