It’s hard to keep up with the latest wellness fads and crazes. But a new online trend – mewing – is sweeping social media and attracting a lot of attention.
More than a new slang term, “mewing” describes a quick-fix method of facial reconstruction, intended to make a person’s jaw appear tighter and more sculpted, among other benefits. The phenomenon has taken off on social media platforms like TikTok, where influencers post how-to videos that attract hundreds of millions of views.
But despite mewing’s popularity and purported benefits as a panacea for a host of modern-day ailments, it’s not exactly the silver bullet its proponents claim: Oral surgeons and dental specialists warn there’s no evidence to support claims it can reshape the structure and appearance of the jaw or improve sleep and breathing.
“Social media is a powerful tool for informing the public on many subject areas, including mewing, but it is not regulated by experts,” said Myron Guymon, president of the American Association of Orthodontists. Press release. “Unfortunately, many members of the public quickly fall prey to theories that have not been scientifically tested.”
What does Mewing mean?
Before we get started, what is mewing and why has it taken the internet by storm in recent years? If you’ve ever wanted to correct a misaligned jaw, then conventional wisdom would point you to an orthodontist.
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But for mewing enthusiasts, a transformative change can be made simply by changing the way their tongue is positioned in their mouth: it is pressed against the ceiling, accompanied by breathing through the nose. Despite the hype surrounding mewing, there is no research to support it as an alternative treatment in orthodontics or jaw surgery, according to a 2019 paper published in Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.
John Mew, an English orthodontist, created the mewing procedure and named the technique after him. His son, Michael Mew, has popularized it today. The Mews are proponents of orthotropic intervention, which addresses misaligned bites and jaws by changing the position of both the mouth and the head.
The Mews also claim that Western society’s consumption of increasingly bland foods, as well as an increase in allergies, has led to underdeveloped jaws and increased mouth breathing compared to our ancestors. Mewing, which involves proper tongue position and nose breathing, is an attempt to correct this discrepancy and restore our faces to their former chiseled glory.
How Mewing claims it works
To engage in mewing, one simply needs to close one’s mouth and try to rest most of one’s tongue on the roof of the mouth. The tip of one’s tongue should barely touch the front teeth.
Depending on the internet source one gets the instructions from, the tongue can be held in place either by suction, by swallowing to create a partial vacuum, or by sheer muscle force. The latter is called “hard mewing”.
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Mewing can be done in short bursts of about 20 seconds to properly engage the jaw muscles, but others advocate a 24/7 lifestyle change. Unless we’re talking or eating, which should be done with an emphasis on chewing the food longer to engage the muscles, proponents of mewing say one should always practice. (Just maybe not when it’s in public.)
The Mewing Controversy
With these simple principles in mind, it’s no wonder the recommendations soon entered the mainstream. Instead of getting expensive braces or undergoing invasive surgery, he promised followers of the practice a more defined jawline as long as they stayed committed to the habit. As mewing became more prominent, so did claims that it could cure other ailments such as speech disorders and even sinusitis.
Of course, mewing has another side beyond its supposed health benefits. Some Internet communities consider mewing, among other unorthodox beauty hacks, to be a key component of “it looks great”, is defined as trying to become more conventionally attractive. This pursuit is popular among Internet subcultures — and especially among adolescent boysas stated by New York Times — who have dogmatic and extremist beliefs about attractiveness and dating.
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Beyond mewing, looksmaxxing can involve a cocktail of other practices, such as a series of plastic surgeries or the harmful act breaking bones, where someone repeatedly hits their face with a hard object in an attempt to realign the bone structure. If this sounds unpleasant and unnecessary, it is because it is, with experts warning against any kind of attempt.
What Does Science Say About Mewing?
With all these unpleasant connotations in mind, does mewing have any kind of validity? As it turns out, Mews may be partially right about the impact tongue posture has on facial development. According to a study 2020 Published in BioScience, jawlines have shrunk in recent decades. The researchers behind the study recommended chewing harder foods, as well as swallowing and breathing exercises, to compensate.
That doesn’t mean, however, that the purported benefits of mewing aren’t skewed: The idea that simply pushing your tongue up to the roof of your mouth will transform your face is unfounded and can lead to unforeseen harm, such as misalignment of teeth or worsening existing speech problems and bite problems — that require additional treatment to correct. John Mew he lost his dental license because of the mewing controversy, and Michael Mew was expelled from the British Orthodontic Society for similar reasons.
Notably, the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) also does not support the practice as a de facto solution. If you are interested in having your jaw repositioned, writes the AAOyour best bet is still to consult a licensed orthodontist.
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“While proper tongue position plays a role in oral health and development, meowing oversimplifies the complexity of facial structure,” Guymon said. “There is no scientific evidence to support its jawline reshaping claims, and the potential risks outweigh the unproven benefits.”
This article does not offer medical advice and should be used for informational purposes only.
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