Yet another TikTok teeth trend (Remember the horrors of turkey teeth?), “mewing” is a term used to describe tongue and mouth exercises that are meant to change the appearance of the face by altering the shape of the jaw muscles. Why “mew”? Because of Dr. John Mew, the British orthodontist who brought the idea of orthotropics into the spotlight within the dental community.
Orthotropics is a somewhat-contested subfield of orthodontia based in a philosophy that emphasizes facial posture and tongue placement for optimal facial development. The idea is, if you can work out other muscles in your body to correct bone position and improve appearance, can’t you do it for your mouth, too? This hot topic has led to countless viral videos on how to achieve that ideal facial structure, along with several equally viral videos of frustrated dental professionals responding to the trend. It’s quite the contested topic, even receiving coverage on local news channels.
In the age of facemaxxing and looksmaxxing, mewing videos are everywhere on social media right now, and people have even begun to make products like rubber balls for people to chew on. There’s even an app for it along with countless other accessories like chewing gum specially designed to help with mewing and achieving a stronger, more defined jawline. Is it pseudo-science or does the concept hold up?
Here’s what you should know:
Dr. John Mew Hates Your Face
Dr. John Mew is something of a dark horse and/or pariah in the orthodontic community, depending on which side of the orthotropics issue one falls. By his measure, virtually everyone is a little bit to a lot disfigured because of how human life has changed. He references ancient skulls, which largely have no jaw misalignment, overbite or underbite. And he’s not wrong; science has observed that peoples’ jaws have become smaller over time. If you ask an oral surgeon with decades of experience in the field, they’d likely agree with the previous statement. It’s mostly due to lifestyle changes rather than genetics. Many oral professionals who specialize in maxillofacial surgery and jaw structure note that it’s far too quick of a change to be due to evolution, as there has been a significant change even just in the past few generations.
Seeing distinct increases in oral health problems that were thought to result from improper jaw position in the mid-20th century, Mew decided to look into preventative structural corrections (orthotropics) over corrective structural alterations (orthodontia). Sounds smart and like a holistic approach to oral health, right? Maybe.
But it’s not that cut-and-dry. If you’ve watched “Open Wide” on Netflix, you know he’s definitely got some underlying resentment about his appearance… and everyone else’s, too. He is on an almost obsessive mission to make people more attractive because of his perception it makes life easier. Mew wants to save your face, but at the same time, him and his practices have become wildly popular with select groups of individuals on the internet while professional orthodontists tend to shun him. To say that John Mew and, in turn, the practice of mewing is widely contested would be a total understatement.
Mewing & Its History in Oral & Maxillofacial Medicine
Here’s where things get dicey, ethically. In order achieve proof of concept, he experimented new treatments and appliances on his children. But only some of them, so he could keep a control group. So, he basically picked and chose which of his kids would remain “ugly” and “disfigured”. Talk about sibling resentment. Treatments involved sometimes very painful appliances that would punish the child any time they strayed from correct posture, in order to instill proper tongue, jaw and neck posture early in life. While they are his kids, the whole thing is ethically dubious. Test subjects should have full consent to what’s happening, and while he wasn’t performing full-on pediatric mouth surgery on his children, it’s all just a little questionable morally. Which seems pretty on-par with what we’ve learned so far.
The concept makes sense – fix the problem before it becomes permanent. Manipulate the bones while they’re still malleable and developing. Logically, it’s sound. Grown adults don’t have effective results because their jawbones are fully developed, but a child’s is still growing and able to be influenced. But when the factors of how difficult the treatments were comes into play, it’s complicated for both parent and child to make it through long courses of such brutal treatments. In fact, Mew had his dental license revoked by the General Dental Council of the UK for misconduct related to the overarching topic at hand.
One such part of Dr. Mew’s regimen to correct jaw position and maximize appearance is jaw exercises, now known as mewing. You stick your tongue to the roof of your mouth and keep it there. Along with correcting head and neck posture, Mew’s theories have often proven effective when tr>However, you will not find the science to support it significantly changes jaw position in adults. And, in fact, there’s not much, if any, mainstream science to suggest it does anything to improve your oral health either. The American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) does not recommend mewing or any other DIY facial restructuring. The best thing to do is to let nature and genetics take its course, because mewing can cause mouth complications. And of course, if any genuine issues do arise, a full mouth reconstruction dentist can help out.
Is Mewing Healthy?
Building your masseter muscle is like building any other muscle, except the context is a little more sensitive, because there are so many intricate and vital structures involved with the jaw. Overdeveloping or overexercising that muscle can exacerbate headaches, sinus pressure, jaw tension, and even contribute to TMJ. There’s a reason that you don’t see equipment designed to work out your jaw muscles at your local gym—there’s no reason to, and there are plenty of complications involved with attempting to do so. If you have genuine concern over the way your jaw is developing, a dental professional experienced in repairing and reconstructing the mouth (whose last name isn’t Mew) can listen and offer assistance and advice.
The other part of the problem – holding your tongue against the roof of your mouth at all times – can also have negative effects on your oral health. Holding your tongue in an unnatural position can mess with tooth alignment, amplify bite problems, cause speech issues, and eventually cause changes that require complicated orthodontia to correct. Which is a big risk to take considering mewing is supposed to help you avoid orthodontia.
All in all, it’s just not worth it. The last thing you want to have to do is explain to your friendly oral doctor that the reason why you’re visiting them is because you followed a fad that was spread around social media. Or explain that it was something that originated from John Mew. Because seriously, anyone who has been in the field for a while likely knows the name, and not for any good reasons.
Does Mewing Improve Your Looks?
There is no research to suggest mewing changes your jaw structure, or that it helps with breathing, sinus issues or sleep apnea. And be wary of before-after photos on the internet, as lighting, angles and filters can accomplish a lot. Speaking of, most argue that lighting and angles during pictures can have an equivalent aesthetic effect as mewing. Instead of mewing, maybe just try brushing up on how to utilize good camera angles to your advantage. It’ll still shift the perception of how you look in photos, it might get you the social media clout everyone who is mewing is after, and it’s certainly not going to mess with your tooth alignment.
So, is Dr. John Mew a mad dental scientist with a crazy theory? Or an ahead-of-his-time orthodontist whose work can be built upon to improve how we approach jaw correction? Our oral surgery practice stays ahead of the technology and above the trends. Patient health is our utmost priority, so only recommend treatments that are scientifically supported to be safe and effective. We take the stance of the AAO on this one: don’t let anybody but a qualified maxillofacial surgeon mess with something so important as the structure of your face and jaw.
