By DAVID SCHOETZ
from ABC.COM

In the world of competitive eating, you can’t make it anywhere if you can’t open wide.

But the state of perhaps the most important tool in competitive eating legend Takeru Kobayashi’s toolbox is in question after he posted a blog entry Sunday loosely translated as “Vocational Disease.”

In it, Kobayashi paints a dire picture of his oral health, claiming that he has been diagnosed with a form of temporomandibular joint disorder — pain in the joint that connects the lower jaw to his skull.

Kobayashi writes that he can only open his famous hatch as wide as a fingertip without suffering extreme pain and draws a comparison to a baseball pitcher with torn elbow ligaments.

His bombshell announcement comes less than 10 days before Kobayashi is expected at Coney Island to defend his run of six consecutive championships at Nathan’s Famous July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest.

George Shea, a spokesman for Major League Eating — the group that hosts the famous competition — said that Kobayashi’s condition was “day to day,” but as far as the group knew, he would still attend next week’s event.

“The only thing I can say is that the health and safety of our eaters is a top priority,” Shea told ABC News.

read more at ABC.COM