Lose your double chin! Straighten your teeth! Get a jawline so well-defined you could open a bottle of beer on it! These are just a few of the supposed benefits of ‘mewing’, an odd but popular practice of DIY facial reconstruction – no cosmetic surgery required.
Originally conceived by a controversial orthodontist, the technique has become a viral beauty trend on social media platforms.
Mewing tutorials on TikTok, have millions of views and hundreds of thousands of likes, bolstered by intriguing before-and-after photos. Many celebrities, such as Bella Hadid (pictured above) are also allegedly mewers.
Tempted? We think you look lovely just the way you are, but just in case, we looked for evidence that mewing actually works …and not just on TikTok.
What is mewing?
It’s the process of shoving your tongue to the roof of your mouth and leaving it there in the hope that it will affect the ‘chiselledness’ of your jawline.
Proponents believe that keeping your tongue raised for prolonged periods can reshape and restructure your jaw. And not only that: mewers believe it could also help reduce jaw pain and sleep apnea, improve the effects of snoring and treat occlusions or overlapping teeth.
Where did it come from?
Mewing takes its name from Dr John Mew, a British orthodontist who first popularised the practice in the 1970s. His son Mike, also an orthodontist, promotes the practice today and is often credited with driving its popularity on social media platforms.
John Mew incorporated mewing in his so-called orthotropics practice, which includes a number of facial and oral posture techniques designed to widen and strengthen people’s jaws.
What’s the theory behind mewing?
It’s generally accepted that human jaws are getting smaller and have been since the dawn of agriculture. Food is easier to consume. Pillows are nice and soft. Our mouths don’t get the workouts they once did.
The Mews believe that smaller jaws mean crowded, crooked teeth and less volume in our mouths. Mewing is designed to reverse this effect and, as a bonus, it makes you look more like Clark Kent in photographs.
So, does it work?
Well, it’s complicated. Raise your tongue to the roof of your mouth and you may notice a difference in your profile as your tongue pulls up the tissue at the base of your mouth and directly under your chin. Can you keep it there, though? And would that make any kind of long-term difference?
“To date, there is a lack of rigorous scientific studies that specifically investigate the effectiveness of mewing,” says dentist Dr Kam Aulak, whose work includes cosmetic dentistry at Newhall Medical and Dental Aesthetics.
“Many dental professionals and orthodontists have expressed scepticism. Critics argue that facial structure and development are primarily determined by genetics, and altering these factors through tongue posture alone is unlikely to yield significant changes.”
There is some research linking 'oral posture' to jaw development, but Aulak cautions that it is not geared towards the claims made by mewing enthusiasts.
“The limited research available on tongue posture and its impact on oral health primarily focuses on its role in orofacial myofunctional therapy, which is a broader field dedicated to correcting orofacial muscle imbalances,” he says.
It should also be noted that both John and Mike Mew are controversial figures. At the time of writing, Mike Mew is awaiting the result of a misconduct hearing held by the UK’s General Dental Council.
His father stepped down as a dentist after having his licence revoked by the same body for a controversial series of advertisements.
Can you hurt yourself doing it?
If your aim is simply to look a little more like a henchman from a 1980s action movie, then poking your tongue to the top of your mouth is unlikely to cause any distress or injury. But the risk is not zero, Aulak says.
Applying too much force could lead to straining the muscles in your jaw, neck or face. “Mewing may also affect individuals who already have braces or orthodontic treatments in progress,” he says.
Orthodontists have also expressed concern the trend for mewing on social media could lead people away from traditional and better-understood orthogenic procedures.
Are there any actually effective ways to tone your jawline?
There are a number of surgical and non-surgical procedures that promise to reshape your jawline, but all come with risks and small print. These cosmetic treatments and tweakments range from fat removal under the chin to dermal fillers that pad out your jawline.
“Cryotherapy and muscle stimulation [also] give the effect of tighter, plumper skin around the neck and lower face,” says Gemma Clarke of wellness and aesthetics company Gelida, “as well as sculpting the muscles of the face to give a lifted, more youthful appearance.”
Cryotherapy uses the cold to stimulate shock in the skin, which Clarke says results in tighter skin over the neck, jowls and face. Muscle stimulation, meanwhile, is a kind of workout for under-utilised facial muscles, which are stimulated electronically. “No fillers or surgery needed,” she says.
About our expert, Dr Kam Aulak
Kam is the clinical director of dental practices based in the Midlands and an expert in the field of facial aesthetics. He has trained at the University of Birmingham and the Royal College of Surgeons.
Read more about health fads:
