Glossary · Refused
Mewing
Mewing is holding the whole tongue against the roof of the mouth, lips closed, teeth lightly together, in the belief that the pressure moves the maxilla and jaw. In adults there are no good trials showing any bone change. Head and neck posture can change how a jawline reads in a photo, and that is the entire honest claim.
Also called: tongue posture, proper tongue posture, orthotropics
What is mewing?
The name comes from John Mew, a British orthodontist who promoted a practice he called orthotropics, and popularised by his son Mike Mew's videos. The habit is simple: rest the full tongue on the palate, lips sealed, breathe through the nose. The claim attached to it is not: that in time the tongue's pressure brings the maxilla forward and up, sharpens the jawline and improves the whole midface.
Does mewing change the jaw in adults?
There is no good evidence that it does. Adult facial bones have finished growing and the sutures between them are fused; the force a tongue applies is nowhere near what orthodontic appliances use. No randomized trial or controlled imaging study has shown a change in adult maxillary or mandibular position from tongue posture. The journal goes through the claims in what mewing does not do.
Is mewing workable or structural?
Split it in two. The bone claim is structural: the maxilla and mandible do not move, and the plan will not say they do. The posture part is workable in a narrow sense. Holding the head level and the neck long, which mewing tends to encourage, separates the jaw from the neck in a photo and reads as more definition. That is a real effect on the picture, and it is the only mewing-adjacent thing a BecomeTen plan may mention, labelled as having no studies.
One photo. Then stop guessing.
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What actually changes how the jawline reads?
- Body fat. The layer under the chin and over the masseter is the largest lever on the lower third; see body fat and the jawline.
- Posture. A level head and a neutral neck. A chin pushed down or forward fakes an edge and is graded as a capture problem, not progress.
- Sleep. A 2013 study in the journal Sleep found sleep-deprived faces showed visible fatigue cues around the eyes and mouth, which soften the lower face.
- Grooming and light. A beard line along the jaw border, hair off the cheek, side light rather than flat front light.
Questions
Why do mewing before-and-after photos look convincing?
Because almost everything except bone changed between them. Typical pairs differ in head angle, camera height, lens distance, lighting, facial hair and body fat, and in teenagers they are separated by growth that would have happened anyway. Line the two photos up under the same conditions and the jaw is where it was.
How does BecomeTen label mewing in a plan?
As having no studies, if it appears at all. The plan may mention head and neck posture as a way to change how the jaw reads on camera, and it will say plainly that this is practice rather than research. It will never present tongue posture as a way to change the maxilla, the gonial angle or the ramus.
Is mewing harmful?
There is no good evidence of harm from resting the tongue on the palate, and none of benefit either. Some people report jaw or joint discomfort from clenching while trying to hold the position. Anyone with jaw pain, clicking or a change in bite should see a dentist.