Mewing and Looksmaxing - New Ways to Trigger TMJ Disorder!

A recent trend on TikTok has been the idea of looksmaxing - basically a movement for men to self critique and try to improve their looks through methods from skin care, to hygiene to mewing. What's mewing? Good question.

Mewing is a practice in orthotropics with the aim to change the facial structure by promoting outward growth of the jaw. This is done in the hopes of better facial aesthetics, as well as improvement in breathing and sleep.

It's basically accomplished through promoting proper tongue posture, in which the tongue is resting on the roof of the mouth, the lips are closed, and teeth are barely touching. 

On its surface, seems like a pretty good idea. There have been documented cases in which people with tongue ties for example (where the band of tissue at the bottom of the tongue connects too much with the floor of the mouth restricting tongue movement) are able to fix their jaw problems by removing it and therefore getting better lower jaw alignment.

However, because the trend of mewing is actually fairly deeply tied with the idea of "looksmaxing" and therefore facial aesthetics, it's safe to say most people who practice mewing actually do it improperly by clenching, since this pronounces the jaw line and may appear more masculine.

And if you think about it, the whole idea of trying to reshape your facial bone structure is a game of forces. You have to apply constant loads to the bones for them to change shape at all. And people trying to do this on their own without the oversight of orthodontists is naturally going to cause problems. 

These forces from clenching or Bruxism are very well documented causes for TMJ Disorders due to the constant overstimulation of the TMJ muscles as well as undue pressure on the joint itself. 

This is why if you look it up, you will see people posting on Reddit, Quora, and other forums complaining that 

"I seem to have developed TMJ from mewing. My maxilla and mandible have moved forward and look good now, but every time I yawn, my jaw klicks and gets stuck."

  Please reach out if you have any stories of your own or would like us to cover something that may help you or the community in dealing with TMJ disorders. And sign up for our mailing list to get notified when we come out with something new!