Mewing is a form of oral posture training purported to improve jaw and facial structure. [1] It was named after Mike and John Mew, the controversial British orthodontists who created the technique as a part of a practice called "orthotropics". [2] [3] It involves placing one's tongue at the roof of the mouth and applying pressure, with the aim of changing the structure of the jaws. [4] [5] No credible scientific research has ever proven the efficacy of orthotropics. [2]
Many orthodontists believe that mewing lacks evidence as a viable alternative treatment to orthognathic surgery. [1] [6] Mike Mew was expelled from the British Orthodontic Society, [2] who faced a misconduct hearing for posing harm to child patients who underwent his treatments. [7] [8] In 2024, Mew was struck off the dental register in the United Kingdom. [3]
Since 2019, mewing has received widespread media coverage due to its virality on social media, [9] especially in incel and looksmaxxing subcultures. [2] [10] Data from Google Trends indicates that interest in "Mewing" began to rise in January 2019. [1] Some school teachers say there are students who gesture to their jawline to indicate that they are mewing and do not wish to answer questions. [11] [12]