Let’s talk about “Mewing” the astonishing internet sensation.
It’s been some time since I wrote about a very controversial topic in orthodontics. This post is about “Mewing” which has been gaining popularity in the media lately. There’s even a documentary about it on Netflix in the USA. Interestingly, my 11-year-old granddaughter showed me Mewing and was amazed when I knew about it, which gave me a lot of street credibility!
What is Mewing?
This is a form of self-care that has originated from John Mew’s orthotropic theories. Those acquainted with orthotropics understand that it is an orthodontic treatment that aims to enhance orofacial function. Dentists use removable appliances and myofunctional exercises to rectify malocclusion. However, it’s important to note that there is no strong evidence to support the effectiveness of this treatment.
John Mew and his son, Mike, have established a highly effective YouTube channel that promotes a set of exercises called “Mewing”. This channel has gained several million views, and Mewing has become increasingly popular. Recently, Netflix released a documentary in the USA featuring the Mews, orthotropics, and Mewing. Similarly, Mewing has become an internet sensation on other platforms such as TikTok. As a result, I decided to take a closer look and understand why it has gained so much interest.
The Orthotropics YouTube channel
This collection features a wide range of professional videos, with the most popular topic being Mewing. Some of these videos have been viewed between 2 to 4 million times. The most recent and popular video is titled “Dr. Mike Mew’s Ultimate Mewing Guide”, which has been viewed 7.8 million times. These are likely the most widely viewed orthodontic videos worldwide. I personally checked out “Dr. Mike Mew’s Ultimate Mewing Guide”.
I need more space to go into much detail, but these are the main points.
Firstly, it is well-produced and is very clear. Mike starts with a discussion on the benefits of Mewing. He states that these are:
- Mewing is a postural technique that involves placing the tongue on the roof of the mouth to gain health and facial improvements.
- The aim is to align the teeth, accentuate cheekbones, sharpen the jawline, and even straighten the nose naturally.
- It may also diminish wrinkles and improve the airway by bringing the maxilla forward, potentially extending one’s lifespan by enlarging the airways.
- People can achieve these changes naturally.
He then describes how, applying constant pressure to the roof of the mouth with your tongue can make the face grow, just like using an expander. This is a fundamental concept about Mewing. It is slightly different from orthotropics because it is not necessary to use an appliance.
The video discusses the theory that Orthotropics is a less invasive approach to treating malocclusion compared to traditional orthodontics. It focuses on addressing the environmental causes of malocclusion and claims to avoid the possible risks associated with traditional orthodontic treatments like facial retraction, sleep apnea, and relapse. The video also points out the limitations of orthognathic and plastic surgery and suggests Mewing exercises as a potential solution. The video has received over 7,700 comments, with most expressing support for Mewing and the Orthotropics philosophy.
What are the exercises?
In the video, the focus is on a variety of orofacial muscle exercises. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough room to cover them all here. In short, they have designed these exercises to promote nasal breathing and improve body and neck posture.
Dr Mew suggests that people adopt a posture with the tongue on the roof of the mouth for 8 hours a day and provides several tips to achieve this. He also introduces the “Mewing” app, which is a comprehensive platform to guide a person through each step of Mewing. Finally, he expresses his interest in seeing people in the Mewing app.
I searched for Mewing apps on the Mac app store and found several. Most of them require a subscription. As a result, I did not proceed any further.
What do I think?
I find it fascinating that there is a significant interest in orthotropics and Mewing. Is this more popular than traditional orthodontics? It’s easy to write this off as an internet trend that might fade over time. However, I am surprised at its popularity.
I have looked for published studies on Mewing and found absolutely nothing. Additionally, there is no mainstream scientific evidence on facial growth in adults that supports the concepts behind “Mewing.” Furthermore, when I apply what I know about craniofacial growth, it’s difficult for me to understand how holding your tongue on the top of your mouth can change the position of facial bones. This is not going to happen.
My final approach is to consider whether this does harm. I doubt that doing the exercises alone can cause harm. Nevertheless, there are costs to viewing the instructional videos in the apps, and I am not sure about charging people for a self-care “treatment” that has no evidence base.
I think we should just follow this with interest and see what happens next. It may take off or simply end up as an internet craze that fades to obscurity, achieving short-term fame on social media.
Well let’s hope all mewing does is alert people to any existing issues in their resting tongue posture, as opposed to making app developers a lot of money for not much provided.
Rest oral posture is which is the same concept as Mewing is a central tenant to myofunctional training and practice. The facial skeleton is subject to both positive and negative remodeling over time since the facial bones are majority controlled by environmental factors. There is no doubt that if a person continues to have low tongue posture which inevitable leads to periods of open mouth status and breathing they will experience negative changes to facial architecture. If this is demonstrably true, the reverse must also be true in that if a person re-establishes competent lip seal, tongue fully to palate along with nasal breathing there will be positive remodeling changes over time. In our modern culture low tongue posture is now endemic primarily since breast feeding and weening practices have dramatically changed since the beginning of the industrial revolution. We now have majority damaged palatal forms as a result. I work diligently on all of my patients to engage in awareness and practice to obtain rest oral posture which I believe improves my treatment outcomes and provides additional natural retention post treatment.
Perhaps glue the tongue to the roof of the mouth using a cyanoacrylate adhesive to achieve 24 hour compliance and feed via a nasogastric tube. That would speed the “treatment”. Please don’t try this at home folks!!
I’ve always thought that orthodontics was prosthodontics in slow motion with the added difficulty that the the size of jaws in children keep changing.
Features in successful full denture construction which needed to be addressed were the vertical dimension (which was immutable not too high, not too low), tongue and lip posture for speech with the right smile line, centering the dention over bone and most importantly establishing arch widths in the neutral zone of cheek, lip and tongue balance. Of course as the ridges resorbed away, (the upper back and the lower forwards), patients tended toward facial flattening and so the denture flanges were important for upper lip support.
Orthodontic treatment had the same boundaries in common but took years longer to set up.
In attempting to understand the boundaries some research helped me:
1. McNamara’s monkeys with polyfiller blocking their noses, didn’t change their manbibular lenghts much.
2. Panchese’s followup studies on the Herbst appliance showed not much change in mandibular lenght.
3. Prof O’Brien’s amazing 100 patient 10 year study on Clark Twin Blocks showed 85% still needed a phase 2, with braces and possible extractions.
4. Frankel Appliances with huge buccal shields didn’t seem to have lasting effects. (If they did they’d still be popular today.) I’ve seen a case study where a poor child’s lips were burnt away and the tongue pressure pushed the teeth out, so maybe Frankel was on to something?
It seems that the boundaries can’t be pushed too much and the basal bone remains that individuals own character. Years after Condyle fractures the mandibular shape returns. Even osteotomy cases have “relapse” to varying extents over the next decade.
So, getting to tongue posturing problem cases, has anyone done good research into Tongue Piercing to see whether there is any effect on long term tongue posture and habits?
Thanks Prof O’Brien.
P.S.
A Quote from George Harrison, helping Donovan write a song…
“When the truth gets buried deep
Beneath a thousand years asleep
Time demands a turn around
And once again the truth is found…
Awakening the Hurdy Gurdy Man
Who comes sining songs of love…”
The loudest voice in the room (or on a YouTube channel) is not necessarily the correct one. I did some research on this topic and found that the upper airway did improve in pediatric cases [1]. However, the upper airway also improved in adult cases [2] using a simple Schwarz expander as an initial part of an orthodontic protocol using fixed orthodontics. In addition, I found the face did not, in fact, grow forwards [3] as suggested by the protagonists. Note that unsubstantiated claims were also made about the AAGA appliance, which resulted in a lawsuit https://www.cbsnews.com/news/agga-dental-device-lawsuits-teeth-damage/ so it might be prudent to base orthotropic claims on the available evidence.
1. Singh GD, García AV, Hang WM. Evaluation of the posterior airway space following Biobloc therapy: Geometric morphometrics. Cranio 25(2): 84-89, 2007.
2. Singh GD and Krumholtz JA. Epigenetic orthodontics in adults, Appliance Therapy Group, USA, 2009. ISBN: 9780984054701
3. Singh GD, Medina L, Hang WM. Soft tissue changes using Biobloc appliances: Geometric morphometrics. Int J Orthod. 20:29-34, 2009.
There is one more step to this rabbit hole I would encourage every orthodontist to take a look at. Go to Reddit (a discussion forum for anything and everything) and go to the forum on mewing by entering r/mewing into the search field. It turns out that there are lots and lots of people (young men mostly) who are unhappy with their faces, mostly their profiles (they post their photos) and are asking advice from the many self appointed Mewing “experts” that respond to their queries. They know a surprising amount of orthodontic terminology but there is also an entire vocabulary in how they describe how they want their face to change. It is worth reading because these types of patients are coming to your office. They won’t come out and say “I don’t like my face” but their questions are directed in that area. Having some idea of the (mis) information they are being exposed to can be helpful for talking to these patients.
Is it just my perceptions or is there any objective record that people with anterior open bites and high MMPAs have a tendency to crossbites and presumably a low resting tongue position keeping the lower molars more buccal than the upper molars. Is this not mewing in reverse? Which comes first, the tongue position or the skeletal pattern?
Stephen Murray
Swords Orthodontics