Hard Chewing Gum
“the muscles can have a significant effect on facial form”, our ancestors had better facial development and perfect straight teeth, there’s ample evidence to suggest that its the transition into soft diet that is the root cause of crooked teeth and poor facial development of modern society. Strong jaw muscles will lead to closed mouth posture, nasal breathing, more forward mid face(greater facial aesthetics), more horizontal lower jaw.
Option 1: Mastiha Gum
The Mastiha Gum harvested from Mastiha Tree that grows in an island of Greece is the toughest gum / food I have found to date. It has been used many centuries as nature’s gum with health benefits to the mouth and stomach. It comes in crystal form, which you crush in your mouth like candy but as you chew and warm it up it slowly molds together to form a very tough chewing gum. Your whole mouth, jaw & cheekbones will get very sore, and I have noticed increase in muscle tone which is beginning to have positive effects to my lower jaw and oral posture. It is currently my gum of choice for jaw workout. I’m seeing results with 1-2 hours of use daily, but sometimes I do more.
<Link to gum if above hyperlink isn’t working>
Option2: Falim Gum
Before the Mastiha gum above, I found the Falim gum from Turkey. Although it is not as touch as the Mastiha hum, it is still much much better than the typical gum found in stores. It may be a good place to start before you’re ready to chew harder. Some qualities of it include:
- not much flavor but I quite like that. Stays tough for long time, easily can have 1 gum last all day maybe more if you want. So it seems pricey but imo worth it.
- Made of natural stuff. Sugar Free gum. No artificial sweeteners.
- Doesn’t stick to braces like regular gum.
- Significantly feel more soreness in the jaws with extended use compared to regular soft gums found in stores (one amazon reviewer gave low rating because it made their jaws sore)
- Once I started chewing this I noticed significant shift in jaw posture, where keeping teeth in contact during the day became automatic and keeping jaw closed during sleep is becoming the new habit where as before chewing gum my jaws would fall open during sleep (when noticing right upon waking / half asleep state)
- Which leads me to confirm the statement “it is the muscle tone that determines resting posture”
- Overtime this new oral posture, and increase in muscle tone should lead to positive facial development changes (even in adults) More to report later…
- Research has been done that showed the interpupillary distance (distance between eyes) are wider on those with strong muscle tone. So those who chew more their faces are actually wider. Wider shorter faces are more attractive than Narrower longer faces.
Is it ok to chew gum when you have braces? I am afraid from all this pressure from braces + gum will damage teeth.
I chew plenty fine with my braces. the tough gums don’t stick to braces but I found soft regular gum does.
Any way to prevent bruxism or teeth grinding? Doing this could wear your teeth down especially if there’s nothing between them. Has chewing gum made you develop bruxism?
Also, I think a mouth guard or even a strip of hard rubber would work just as well and you can wear it during sleep just in case you start grinding teeth. Can you put up some mouth guards here that sort of mimic chewing tough meat? I don’t recommend hard plastic mouth guards, and this gum is tough but it gets too soft after a while.
The tongue on the roof of the mouth is suppose to counter act the force of jaws, and balance each other to prevent bruxism. If you have bruxism there is high chance that your tongue is not working as hard getting on the upper palate.
I don’t recommend mouth guard while sleeping because it leaves the mouth slightly open. I have found chewing on mouth guard to be annoying cause it gags me, perhaps it is too thick. I have not found a good one. I just swap out gums if they get soft after a while.
Hello,
can I pay for membership through paypal? It feels unsafe/uncomfortable putting my card number to site I am not formilier with
the service I use is Stripe. you can look them up, they are secure and for various reasons better than Paypal
Ok thank you
Are we supposed to maintain the correct tongue posture while chewing this gum?
no not while chewing. but make sure to swallow saliva properly
Been chewing gum daily for about 10 weeks now. Rotate both sides so jaw is evenly worked.
Jaw angle have gotten wider, larger, and more prominent. But if I do not chew gum for a few days, it seems to contract.
Is the gum chewing more important than the tongue to the roof of the mouth exercise that is recommended ?
both are important
Bought the gum, which arrived today. My jaws rarely pop, and I couldn’t chew it because one side popped every chew. My 18 year old post braces (and extractions, basically ruined until we can figure something out) daughter couldn’t chew it either, but she says her jaws pop constantly anyway. Any suggestions?
The family is only interested in making people try it for shock factor, considering it has no taste and chews like rubber. It does smell good, though.
my jaws pop sometimes but I chew anyway since its not hurting.
What are the ingredients in this?
Isn’t chewing gum if you have TMJ?
Hey great post I just found your block and all those posts are very interesting. The thing is, I live in germany and I do not know where I could get such gum here. I found the tough gum you linked here but it costs nearly 50 bucks here in germany which is way too much. Do you know any other international brands you could recommend? Thank you
Try any Turkish grocery shop 🙂 Falim is a Turkish gum, I first found it years ago in Istanbul. Thought I bought something past expiration date because it had so little taste and was so hard 😀
Have you seen IMDO(Intermolar distraction operation) by the australian Profilo dental centre?
For all you that can’t buy from Amazon, the Falim gum is on ebay with free shipping.
Will chewing gum eventually lead to stronger bone structure and squarer gonial angle and more defined cheekbones? I am young I had extractiojs and braces but I am 17 hopefully will this help me grow more?
yes
Can I chew the Mastiha Gum with ceramic braces on? Thanks!
yes
I’m 25 with long face Syndrome orthodontist told me tge only way is surgery , I put braces my teeth are straight I breath from nose while mouth shut lips closed is there any way I will become more attractive or my face become shorter ? Isn’t too late for 25 ??
Hey, I have been chewing this gum for about 4 days already see mastered hypertrophy awesome. But now my left jaw hurts, am I developing TJM?
Is there a particular chewing motion for optimum growth? I hear people say that chewing in a circular motion is best, others argue that chewing in a straight vertical motion is better. Also would it be wise to chew on one side more to correct asymmetrical lower jaw? If so, in which chewing motion? Any opinions? Every time I try and chew hard or too much in a circular motion one side of my jaw clicks and kinda pops.
This is a really good question… I’d like to hear the answer.
Hey I chew regular gum mixed 50/50 with mastic (Mastiha) gum so that it has a bit more ‘Spring’ To it. I use a pack (10) gums + Mastiha. I found when I started my jaw hurt like hell and the clicking was noticeable. After a while that subsided and the masseter muscles toughened up, helped with keeping jaw closed and tongue posture improves in cycle. The muscles do slack or soften after chewing just like other muscles that don’t get used! so I slowed down to small intermittent cycles of chewing to keep them regularly used but not over used. I then used a JAWCERCISER (look it up) too
not sure how this all going though as I now get this air discharge in my ear when I close my jaw like its pushing trapped air out, any thoughts??????
Hey CP, I bought the gum from your link. In my house we usually keep something similar which is called myrrh which has a much more bitter taste and is way softer. This stuff is on another level and the pine taste is pretty cool. I’ve been smart with it and never overdo and i’ve noticed that it has actually helped my teeth to go into better positions than they were in before. From this and the mewing my face is way wider and i’ve actually gotten comments/compliments from people who know me well (and see me often) so the difference is real.
But one thing I have to say is that this gum chewing seems like more a muscle workout than a bone reshaping thing. I have been reading your archives so i’m starting to catch up with the knowledge and whatnot so I know that better muscles and muscle placement = better bones so i’m sure there is a benefit there, but just go out and buy some of the biggest carrots you can find and sink your teeth into those (almost like a human chew toy) and tell you me don’t feel the difference. When I bite into a carrot really hard I can almost feel a sensation down to the roots of my teeth that I don’t feel with the gum.
I’m trying to figure out what exactly our ancestors chewed that gave them such huge jaws.. maybe dried meat? Dunno. I’ll update you if I find anything cool.