Restricted opening of the mouth with an extra-articular cause in children.

Restricted opening of the mouth with an extra-articular cause (ROMEC) can have very different aetiologies. A series of 6 children, who have been operated on under 4 different diagnoses, are presented. Excluded are common problems such as recent trauma and posttraumatic scarring, craniomandibular dysfunction or elongated coronoid process, and also tumours. Problems of establishing the diagnosis, surgical treatment, postoperative physiotherapy and timing are discussed. It is shown that none of the cases is a perfect result, some outcomes are even very disappointing. It is therefore concluded that absolute trismus should be treated independently of age. The result expected will be mediocre. For final correction it is suggested that the operator should wait preferably until the second growth spurt has passed. The same goes for children presenting primarily with a mouth opening greater than 20 mm.