A 9-month-old baby from Ottawa has doctors puzzled — because he isn't able to fully open his mouth.
Wyatt Scott has an extremely rare disorder called congenital trismus which doesn't allow the boy to open his jaw. CBC says it's so rare that the hospital where Wyatt is currently being treated doesn't even have a case study to consult.
One Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario doctor told CBC what they do know about the disorder.
"It can cause issues of getting food in with any nipple or bottle feeding and it can also have trouble for the secretions, so they often have associated swallowing difficulties."
Daily Mail notes that Wyatt was monitored by doctors in a hospital for his first three months of life, and since he was sent to live at home his parents have had to rush him to the hospital six times because he was choking.
Congenital trismus is usually caused by an extra band of tissue or a fused joint in the mouth, but both CT and MRI scans show this isn't the case for Wyatt.
Doctors believe there might be a muscle problem, but ABC says to find out Wyatt would have to be sedated. Anesthesiologists are wary to do that because they wouldn't be able to monitor his airways, since Wyatt can't open his mouth.
Because no one has been able to come up with a solution for Wyatt, his mother, Amy, created a website called WhatsWrongWithWyatt? Both Amy and her husband Scott hope someone will come across the website and know what to do.
A writer for the Ottawa Citizen says Wyatt is currently being fed through a nasal tube, but his parents hope doctors will soon be able to insert a tube through his abdomen wall to feed their son that way.
Amy and Scott are currently teaching Wyatt sign language in case he won't ever be able to speak. They told the Ottawa Citzien that Wyatt already understands some basic signs.
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