Six-year-old Andrew Martinez from Rialto has never eaten through his mouth like most children. Born with a rare condition called syngnathia, Andrew’s upper and lower jawbones are fused together. Instead of being able to chew his food, he takes his nutrition through a G-tube placed in his stomach.

Or at least he used to, until Liviu Eftimie, D.D.S., M.S., an oral and maxillofacial surgeon at Loma Linda University Medical Center, and a team of maxillofacial specialists performed a surgery on Nov. 5 to separate Andrew’s jawbones. Only 26 cases of syngnathia have been reported to date since the first case in 1936. Of these cases, only seven have involved fusion like Andrew's. His is the eighth case to present with his jawbones fused in this fashion since birth.

Andrew first came to Loma Linda when he was only 1-1/2 years old because he had pneumonia. The pediatrician seeing him called Dr. Eftimie to look at his jaw then, and a computerized tomography scan revealed the fused jaw bones. A three-dimensional model of Andrew’s face and jaw made from the scan allowed Dr. Eftimie to practice beforehand and navigate during surgery. At only 30 pounds, Andrew underwent surgery to separate his jaws, only to come down with pneumonia again, making physical therapy to strengthen his atrophied jaw muscles impossible. He still faces challenges after the successful surgery to separate his jaws.

“From a medical standpoint, his recovery is going perfect,” Dr. Eftimie said. “He’ll need a few months of rehabilitation. The battle is not over yet because he does not have good muscles. Just imagine, this kid was not able to open his mouth. He didn’t have a mouth,” he continued. “He never used his face muscles or chewing muscles, so he has to learn how to function, move and chew.”

Andrew experienced a mouthful at Thanksgiving for the first time and is even more excited about Christmas.

“I want a street bike and to eat a candy cane,” he says. “Christmas will be more better than anything, better than ever!”