Every Wednesday we’ll be shining a light on the coolest, wackiest, or most unique records from around the globe recently approved by our Records Management Team with our Spotlight series.
JJ Bittner from the USA featured in the Guinness World Records 2015 edition in an eye-catching photoshoot. After reading about Bitner's gargantuan gape in the book, Bernd Schmidt from Wendlingen in Germany believed he may have a chance at claiming the record - his son urged him to contact our records management team with evidence. You can watch the results in our video below.
After a visit to his local dentist, Bernd gathered together a wide range of evidence to send to our team. It became appearent that with a gape of 8.8 centimetres (3.5 inches), Bernd had beaten JJ Bitner's record by just four millimetres.
The mouth gape record is recorded as stretching from the incisal edge of the maxillary central incisors to the incisal edge of the mandibular central incisors.
JJ Bitner's record as it appears in the German edition of the Guinness World Records 2015 book
After seeing his record featured in our Spotlight video series, Bernd told the Guinness World Records digital team: "My son and my wife showed me the video. We´re very amused to see my record. My friends are very excited to see me."
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