Gaten Matarazzo, who plays Dustin on “Stranger Things,” had another surgery for cleidocranial dysplasia, a rare genetic disorder that affects how his teeth and bones grow. He was born with it.
In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Matarazzo called his fourth surgery a “big one,” but he didn’t give any more details.
The 17-year-old also told his fans to check out the CCD Smiles website to learn more about the condition.
Cleidocranial dysplasia, or CCD, affects one in a million children. It can be passed down from a parent or caused by a random mutation, according to CCD Smiles.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says that people with this condition often have teeth that aren’t right, collarbones that aren’t fully formed or don’t exist, and spaces between the skull bones that don’t close right away. CCD doesn’t have a specific treatment, but it can be taken care of with dental work and surgeries to fix any deformities in the bones.
Matarazzo has been very open about living with the condition. In 2018, he went on “The Doctors” and said that he was born without collarbones and has more teeth than the average person, but they don’t grow in right.
He said that early in his career, he lost parts because of his teeth and a lisp that was caused by his condition.
He said, “That’s one of the main reasons I haven’t been getting parts.” “I would go to auditions three times a week and always get told “No.”
That changed when he was cast as Dustin in the 2016 Netflix show “Stranger Things.” Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, who make the show and are known as the Duffer Brothers, asked Matarazzo if they could use his condition in the show.
Matarazzo said, “I think what the show’s directors, the Duffer brothers, really wanted to do was make sure that each character in the show was unique and had something real and personal about them.”
