This is a fantastic video by Mike Mew on oral posture practices to drive the maxilla forward & up in the face. The key for change is posture. Good tongue posture & head posture by imagining a string attached to the back of the head pulling you up (this will tuck your chin).
Out of all the things I’ve done including adult palate expansion, face pulling, self-ncr, crane, I have found it was posterior tongue posture that mattered most.
That and muscle tone & next I’m working on is head posture, which I notice allows the tongue to put more force on the maxilla when the head is held up over the shoulders by lifting the occipital (back of the head)
I notice that I continually want to posture my head forwards slightly and tilting the head up. This is all because of the vertically grown face, in order to interface with the world with straight profile I have to tilt my face up to compensate for the fact that the jaws grew down.
When lifting my head with occipital the chin appears more recessed as the jaws get pushed back into the airway and almost like face is looking down. Which really begins to show how much vertical growth has occurred. I’m speculating here but by posturing the head in this way, really helps get that back part of the maxilla down and the posterior tongue to make more contact with it, and when this occurs the tongue is more effective long term force right at the base of the skull right on the soft palate, which is most likely where the greatest change can occur, right from the base / inside of the face. Pushing everything up, forwards and out in 3 Dimensions. And it is pushing the bones out from inside that is the true face lift, that which gives youthing effect.
Have you guys ever seen a cow’s tongue and how thick that posterior tongue is compared to the tip? (some grocers sell the whole tongue) This is all about getting that thickness raised up and that thickness will for sure begin to reshape the bone around it. We know the facial bone remodels around soft tissues by cases of people that got big tumors in the face, which is very grotesque.
By chin tucking your almost forcing that maxilla back into the throat which in this case is what we want because that’s where the tongue volume is, so it can make contact and begin to push.
This combined with strong jaw muscles as well putting opposing long term pressure.
So I look at it as combination of muscles at work here, its the jaw closing muscles squeezing down and tongue pushing up, is almost squeezing the whole maxilla & face as the jaw closing muscle attaches (temporal muscle) all the way to the top of the skull. When you want to squeeze something you need two opposing forces. & when we can get the distance from eye to lips shorter overtime then we are getting somewhere, which will also make the distance between the eye further. This is not only about moving the maxilla but about remodeling its whole shape by the long term forces of the muscles. Almost like your taking two hands and reshaping a clay.
One quick note is that the swallowing practices mentioned by Mike if you do it often will dry out your mouth possibly which isn’t good to do long term, as dry mouth can lead to cavitation near the gum line known as cervical cavity or class 5 cavity. Your teeth need saliva to stay healthy & white as it is saliva that carries the calcium, phosphorus and all the nutrients that get deposited into teeth. (teeth mineralization) Saliva is also nature’s natural anti-germ, good saliva in the mouth means no bad breath. These are things I am learning now as I learn more about improving dental health.
We don’t ever think about the importance of having good, sufficient saliva in the mouth but when you consider the fact that’s how animals keep their mouth clean, saliva is probably the most important thing for our teeth. So be mindful of your saliva and having dry mouth as well.
Good nutrition undoubtedly plays a role in the quality of our saliva. & Keeping the mouth clean when not ingesting foods & not ingesting foods for long long periods, as that can make the saliva too acidic for too long.
-CP
Your squeezing theory makes sense, but if the jaw muscle needs to squeeze the maxilla up, wouldn’t that require teeth clenching? Without clenching, the muscles don’t seem to be activated at all and I thought teeth were supposed to touch only lightly.
What I’ve found is that I’m getting neck pain when I change my posture. I guess this is normal though. But I do look ridiculous.
I did notice that the tongue dries out over time when it’s up against the palate. How do you keep it from drying out?
Thanks
I have a slight double chin but it is extreme when i have correct posture. don’t have a high body fat %, but my face feels fat. I’ve been chewing gum, but it doesnt seem to help that much. how to get rid of the double chin?
I have the same problem. Hope you can answer
How many hours a day do you aim to do chin tuck neck posture and is it more beneficial to do whilst eating and chewing hard gum?
I always wanted to ask this. Wouldn’t extensive chewing motion of jaw will cause TMJ syndrome?
Claiming power whats your opinion on jaw implants?
I really consider getting them since from chewing i see very small changes.
This is a brilliant video, thanks for sharing!
Whats your opinion on jaw implants?
they are known to relapse as the muscle pulls the implants back
Really? Didnt know this
What would you do for someone with significant small jaw?
I’ve been doing Tony’s TSP rinse and my cavity filling is popping out. Is there something I can wear on the hole overnight so it doesn’t get infected again? I’d rather restore the whole tooth than get a new filling that will only keep popping out.
Interesting. I find when I chin tuck and have good posture my active swallow is gone, and also I do notice my voice is stronger and deeper. All this stuff is definitely linked up
Hi CP,
I noticed when I swallow or put pressure on the soft palate where I think my posterior tongue is a bulge forms beneath my chin and I feel pressure downwards as opposed to upwards. Is this a sign I am not doing it correctly?
Also, when I swallow with my teeth together using the Mew Push Swallow, my cheeks don’t seem to move but my clenching muscles by my jaw become activated. Is this a good sign or bad? If I keep swallowing with this new method will I see my cheeks begin to hallow as I wish them to or I’m not doing it correctly still?
So, do you think that by regularly chewing the gum you recommend (I have been chewing it for several weeks now (I purchase it on eBay) and diligently practising Proper Oral Posture (6 months now for me) it will have the effects of a face-lift? I have noticed that my brow / eyebrows have already lifted – but my lower face definitely still needs “a lift” – should I see some positive results with time, effort and patience? Also, do you that that the chewing can help reverse periodontal bone loss?
hey claiming power, I was just wondering is there anyway to ensure that you’re maintaining good oral posture during sleep? (tongue pressed to roof of mouth, teeth together etc), I have good oral posture during the day but I’m worried that this may not be the case when I am asleep. Any help would be great 🙂
its difficult to tell yes, but our posture during the day tends to translate to posture during sleep. I also take note of the posture when I am halway awake but still asleep, I like to notice that my mouth is closed.
After practicing the tongue lift my voice sounds like I have a cold. Why is this happening and what the repercussions for my voice?
When I push the posterior third of my tongue on the roof of my mouth, my airway is completely blocked, making it impossible for me to breathe while doing the Mew exercise. What can I do? Is this a common problem – and does anyone have a solution for it?
Clearly, without being able to breathe, I cannot do the exercise with the frequency that I’d like, and it is bugging the crap out of me.
Please share your thoughts with me – whatever they are. Any help or feedback would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!
Thanks!
Rush
I have been wearing braces for 1 year now. I didn’t knowthe consequences of it. I had a really wide arch before but now it’s so narrow. I cannot place my tongue on the roof of my mouth.Therefore I asked my dentist in my last visit to widen the arch but my dentist said that it will ruin my face if Ido it and I will not be able to eat as my upper set of teeth will not meet my lower set of teeth and I will have my gap back again in my front teeth. But I was able to eat properly even when I had a wide arch. So should I tellmy dentist to widen it? I don’t know. Please help. Will i really be nor able to eat because of it? Please answer.ReplyDelete
I have also known all of this for the past year. I have worked on stretching the back neck muscles a lot. I need to start stengthening my front muscles though. I am going to order a neck exercise brace soon. I think that bad posture causes bad face, and bad mouth posture causes bad face, but in different ways. When the head is titled forward but your mouth is closed, the cheekbones still develop almost fully. They might be a little lower than normal but nothing dramatic. The face just looks like it was pulled down. The teeth can still be flared out as well. But when you have just bad mouth posture. Your teeth bow inwards and your palate collapses. Your cheekbones sink into your face. This in turn causes bad posture because it is hard to fit the tounge in the mouth tat this point (all what Mike new says). You see, I had bad neck posture from sitting on the floor criss-crossed playing video games. This wrenched my muscles into very unnatural positions and shaped my back very wrong. But this is not something that someone thinks about because Mostly they cannot see themselves and they don’t know what to compare it to. As soon as it is brought to light, it all makes sense. You stand with you back directly against the wall and pull your neck down stretching the back muscles. You feel how your palate is low and how your tongue is pressed very tightly against it without pressing with force. You feel how your jaw is now jutting forward to where it should be. You feel how your front teeth just aren’t far enough out. If only you were told this when you were young all of this could have been avoided. I’m sorry to say but I do not think that just fixing body posture and tongue posture are good enough to change your face. You need constant high pressure forces that your tongue just cannot deliver. I had made a device earlier this year designed to push upwards on the palate and out on the teeth using a moldable plastic called InstaMorph. I luckily had a mold of my mouth from when I was 16 (which I can see changes from then to now for my palate) and I used it to mold the plastic into a retainer shaped mouth piece. I then molded bite plates where I could bite down on, and it pushed the piece of plastic up into my palate, propelled by my bite. I could feel my maxilla being pushed heavily into my face and it felt great. My jaw would get tired after about a couple minutes but I would take a couple second break and proceed. By the end of 20 minutes, my tounge had more space, my teeth were more pushed outward, my cheekbones had pressure indicating their rising. It felt great. Unfortunately everything would reset back to how it was. This is why I said it has to be a long term force, which is very hard to get. But still I can feel my palate a little more expanded than how it was. And also unfortunately my dog chewed this device up so I have to make another one. It took about a day to make to make it right. It was a pain but it was worth it. I honestly don’t know why Mike new or anyone has not designed a contraption like this. It makes so much sense. You don’t need face pulling. You need face pushing. Pushing the maxilla up from the inside into the face. Pulling can elongate face. The bows of your face have also grown this way so you are never going to get it to where it would be if you never had bad posture. You are going to just raise your cheekbones and bring your face out, your face has already elongated. I also think that it does not matter too much that your palate is low or pushed back, but that your playmate is angled down. Give that at though. Sorry for the long post I had a lot to say on the subject and this is my first post. I have been following this blog for a while in silence. Tell me what you think CP or anybody. Thanks.