See also
Mewing was created in the 1970s by Dr. John Mew, it is an unproven form of oral posture training purported to improve jaw and facial structure. [1] [2] It was named after British orthodontist John Mew, who created the technique as a part of a practice called "orthotropics", together with his son Mike. [3] [4] It involves placing one's tongue at the roof of the mouth and applying pressure, purportedly to modify the structure of the jaws. [5] [6]
No credible scientific research has ever proven the efficacy of orthotropics, [3] and most orthodontists do not view mewing as a viable alternative treatment to orthognathic surgery. [1] [7] Mike Mew was expelled from the British Orthodontic Society [3] and faced a misconduct hearing for posing harm to child patients who underwent his treatments. [8] [9] In 2024, Mew was struck from the dental register in the United Kingdom. [4]
Since 2019, mewing has received widespread media coverage due to its virality on social media, [10] especially in incel and looksmaxxing subcultures and has been associated with "brain rot". [3] [11] [12] Data from Google Trends indicates that interest in "mewing" began to rise in January 2019. [1] Its popularity has reportedly also affected school students, with some apparently mewing in class to avoid answering questions when prompted by teachers. [13] [14]