Have YOU tried 'mewing' yet? Latest health trend sweeping the internet promises to change the shape of your face and jawline just by placing your tongue on the roof of your mouth
- An unusual health technique called 'mewing' is growing popular online
- Fans claim jawline will become more defined thanks to tongue position
- Coined by Dr Mike Mew, who credits the method with multiple health benefits
- His video on 'Doing Mewing' has over 700k views on YouTube
An unusual health technique that claims to change the shape of your jawline without surgery has snowballed in popularity online.
Mewing is a technique that promises to help 'gain full genetic potential' in your facial features by moving the position of the tongue and teeth.
There are hundreds of videos dedicated to the topic, with fans sharing before and after photographs online of their progress.
Coined by a British dentist called Dr. Mike Mew, some believe that the position of your tongue can help define your jawline and align your upper and lower teeth, especially if they are crooked.
Before and after snaps of those who've tried the health technique are being posted to Instagram, along with the claim 'mewing works'
This Instagram user said that the picture on the right showed his jaw in its natural 'correct' position, with tongue on the roof of the mouth, and teeth placed together
Social media users have been sharing before and after photos of their side profile that over time appears to be changing thanks to the practice.
Dr Mew, who posts videos on his Orthotropics channel on YouTube, said that mewing was created for health improvements rather than cosmetic reasons, although admits 'they're fairly synonymous and so are largely the same thing'.
According to the theory, having the correct tongue, jaw and neck posture can help improve jaw problems, mouth muscle pains, and sleep apnea - a disorder characterised by pauses in breathing or periods of shallow breathing during sleep.
It involves working on the position of your tongue and teeth while your mouth is closed, by pushing your tongue upwards into the palette and pressing your molar teeth together.
With progress from right to left, this Instagram user said she'd been practicing mewing for over a year, and claimed it had adjusted the shape of her jawline
One Reddit user shared this post of his progress after a month of practice, though generally it's recommended to wait six months before posting before and after shots in order to show proper progress
Dr. Mew also suggests that breathing through the nose and chewing harder foods could help define the jaw line as it 'exercises your face'.
The clinician also recommends chewing your food 'into a mush' as a way of defining the face.
He suggests developing the habit of keeping your mouth closed 'properly' and keep teeth pressed together, but Dr Mew warns it could take years for it to make a change.
'I'm here putting forward a very controversial point,' he told Vice, 'saying that few people in the modern world have gained the full genetic potential in their facial development.'
Another Reddit user shared the snap of his mewing progress, with his before picture on the right, and after picture on the left
One teenager posted this image of her mewing progress after six months on Reddit and says she does chin tucks whenever she is alone
Austin posts videos to his Astro Sky YouTube account about mewing, and many have hundreds of thousands of views
Elisha Long is yet another YouTuber who credits mewing with helping him align his upper and lower teeth
The theory is particularly popular on Reddit, where there is a whole forum dedicated to orthotropics, also known as natural facial growth guidance.
Users are encouraged to post their progress after six months, and in good lighting, so that others can determine how their face shape has actually changed.
Austin - a 22 year old YouTuber from Texas - creates videos about mewing, and tutorials on how to mew that have hundreds of thousands of views.
The American says he started practicing as a teenager, and that the method has helped to transform the structure of his face.
YouTuber Elisha Long also credits mewing with helping him align his upper and lower teeth.
In a video titled 'How to Mew - Mewing Technique (Correct Tongue Posture)', which has been viewed 250,000 times, he explains when he started mewing, it was 'kind of like his teeth were 'gently resting on top of one another throughout the day.
Twitter users have also been impressed by the before and after pictures of mewing and tongue posture, with some calling 2019
He goes on: 'I did this by pushing my tongue up against the roof of my mouth. I still have a little over bite, I think that it's natural to have a slight overbite but it used to be very exaggerated.'
Twitter users have also been amazed by the practice, with many uncovering YouTube videos discussing the theory.
'Okay, so 2019 is about mewing,' one wrote.
Another commented:'I stumbled across this thing called mewing and tongue posture I'm now I'm shook.'
However, mewing is not without it's controversies - some believe that the shifting in bone structure is actually due to natural changes and growth.
Dentist Dr Uchenna Okoye explained to Vice that while she wouldn't disagree with it's benefits in some case,she doesn't think it's 'the be all and end all.'
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