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] 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. [3] [4] 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] [5] Mike Mew was expelled from the British Orthodontic Society, [2] and faces a misconduct hearing for posing harm to child patients who underwent his treatments. [6] [7] While Mike Mew has disparaged traditional orthodontics, [6] his orthotropic treatments for young children cost £12,500 for 36 months, and involve the wearing of headgear, neckgear, and expansion appliances in the mouth. [7]
Since 2019, mewing has received widespread media coverage due to its virality on social media, [8] especially in incel and looksmaxxing subcultures. [2] [9] Data from Google Trends indicates an increase in global interest and popularity for "Mewing" starting from January 2019. [1] According to a 2024 article in The Independent , some school teachers say that students gesture to their jawline to indicate that they are mewing and do not wish to answer questions. [10]
Oral and maxillofacial surgery is a surgical specialty focusing on reconstructive surgery of the face, facial trauma surgery, the mouth, head and neck, and jaws, as well as facial plastic surgery including cleft lip and cleft palate surgery.
Orthognathic surgery, also known as corrective jaw surgery or simply jaw surgery, is surgery designed to correct conditions of the jaw and lower face related to structure, growth, airway issues including sleep apnea, TMJ disorders, malocclusion problems primarily arising from skeletal disharmonies, and other orthodontic dental bite problems that cannot be treated easily with braces, as well as the broad range of facial imbalances, disharmonies, asymmetries, and malproportions where correction may be considered to improve facial aesthetics and self-esteem.
Median palatal cysts are uncommon hard palate fissural cysts that are not odontogenic. These lesions are located behind the incisive canal in the midline of the hard palate. The majority of the time, median palatine cysts are asymptomatic and are discovered by coincidence while a patient is being evaluated for a different ailment.
The lesser palatine arteries are arteries of the head. It is a branch of the descending palatine artery. They supply the palatine tonsils and the soft palate.
Simon Hullihen MD, DDS was a dental surgeon born in Point Township, Pennsylvania. He completed his medical degree and then was inspired to seek a career in oral and maxillofacial surgery. Regarded as the first oral surgeon in the United States, he helped to develop many modern techniques of maxillofacial surgery and contributed to the establishment of oral and maxillofacial surgery as a surgical specialty.
Neuralgia-inducing cavitational osteonecrosis (NICO) is a diagnosis whereby a putative jawbone cavitation causes chronic facial neuralgia; this is different from osteonecrosis of the jaw. In NICO the pain is said to result from the degenerating nerve ("neuralagia"). The condition is probably rare, if it does exist.
Prominent inferior labial artery, also known as caliber-persistent labial artery is characterized by the appearance of a pulsating papule in the lower vermilion, a centimeter of two from the oral comissure, formed by an especially tortuous segment of the inferior labial artery.
A jaw abnormality is a disorder in the formation, shape and/or size of the jaw. In general abnormalities arise within the jaw when there is a disturbance or fault in the fusion of the mandibular processes. The mandible in particular has the most differential typical growth anomalies than any other bone in the human skeleton. This is due to variants in the complex symmetrical growth pattern which formulates the mandible.
In the United States and Canada, there are twelve recognized dental specialties in which some dentists choose to train and practice, in addition to or instead of general dentistry. In the United Kingdom and Australia, there are thirteen.
A zygoma fracture is a form of facial fracture caused by a fracture of the zygomatic bone. Symptoms include flattening of the face, trismus and lateral subconjunctival hemorrhage.
Surgically assisted rapid palatal expansion (SARPE), also known as surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion(SARME), is a technique in the field of orthodontics which is used to expand the maxillary arch. This technique is a combination of both Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Orthodontics. This procedure is primarily done in adult patients whose maxillary sutures are fused and cannot be expanded via other techniques.
Jean Guy Eugene Raymond Delaire was a French orthodontist known for developing the Delair Facemask or reverse headgear. This facemask is used to treat children who have maxillary retrognathism and mandibular prognathism.
Hugo Obwegeser was an Austrian Oral and Maxillo-Facial Surgeon and Plastic Surgeon who is known as the father of the modern orthognathic surgery. In his publication of 1970, he was the first surgeon to describe the simultaneous procedure which involved surgeries of both Maxilla and Mandible involving Le Fort I and Bilateral Sagittal Split Osteotomy technique.
Condylar hyperplasia is over-enlargement of the mandible bone in the skull. It was first described by Robert Adams in 1836 who related it to the overdevelopment of mandible. In humans, the mandibular bone has two condyles which are known as growth centers of the mandible. When growth at the condyle exceeds its normal time span, it is referred to as condylar hyperplasia. The most common form of condylar hyperplasia is unilateral condylar hyperplasia where one condyle overgrows the other condyle leading to facial asymmetry. Hugo Obwegeser et al. classified condylar hyperplasia into two categories: hemimandibular hyperplasia and hemimandibular elongation. It is estimated that about 30% of people with facial asymmetry express condylar hyperplasia.
It is estimated that nearly 30% of the general population present with malocclusions that are in great need of orthodontic treatment. However, the term dentofacial deformity describes an array of dental and maxillo-mandibular abnormalities, often presenting with a malocclusion, which is not amenable to orthodontic treatment alone and definitive treatment needs surgical alignment of upper/lower jaws or both. Individuals with dentofacial deformities often present with lower quality of life and compromised functions with respect to breathing, swallowing, chewing, speech articulation, and lip closure/posture. It is estimated that about 5% of general population present with dentofacial deformities that are not amenable to orthodontic treatment only and required sugical correction as well and patients with Class III malocclusion appear to form the mojority of these patients.
John Mew is a British orthodontist. He is the founder of orthotropics and mewing. Orthotropics is a form of oral posture training that claims to guide facial growth and is not supported by mainstream orthodontists. John Mew's son Michael Mew is also an orthodontist and has also practised and promoted the idea of orthotropics.
Shan K. Bagby is a United States Army brigadier general and the 28th Chief of the Army Dental Corps. Bagby also serves as the Commanding General, Regional Health Command-Central. Bagby, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, was the Army’s first African-American dental officer promoted to brigadier general.
Mandibular setback surgery is a surgical procedure performed along the occlusal plane to prevent bite opening on the anterior or posterior teeth and retract the lower jaw for both functional and aesthetic effects in patients with mandibular prognathism. It is an orthodontic surgery that is a form of reconstructive plastic surgery. There are three main types of procedures for mandibular setback surgery: Bilateral Sagittal Split Osteotomy (BSSO), Intraoral Vertical Ramus Osteotomy (IVRO) and Extraoral Ramus Osteotomy (EVRO), depending on the magnitude of mandibular setback for each patient. Postoperative care aims to minimise postoperative complications, complications includes bite changes, relapse and nerve injury.
Looksmaxxing is a term that refers to the process of maximizing one’s own physical attractiveness that can be traced back to mid-2014 when it emerged on incel message boards Lookism, Sluthate, and PUAHate. In the 2020s, the term left relatively obscure internet forums, and was popularised on TikTok.
Joel Ferri is a French Stomatologist, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, academic and author. He is the chairman and head of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the Lille Medical School.