I preach about tongue on the roof posture but are you doing it correctly? “tongue on the roof” but there’s more to it, for great facial change results.
If you are part of my membership, you already saw my explanation of it as I was learning this new tongue posture freshly taught by Mike Mew several weeks ago, but after testing it out for weeks I can say that there definitely is a right way and the wrong way to place your tongue on the roof of your mouth.
I feel it is important for everyone to know so I am now going to make a public post about it.
Incorrect tongue to roof posture
This is the posture I was taught by a oral myologist and I’ve been practicing for months. They teach you to take the tip of the tongue and place it behind the front two teeth at the “spot”. But its not entirely correct. See how the back of the tongue is still low in the mouth?
The Correct Tongue Posture (Get that back of the tongue up there)
Here is the correct way, see how that back of the tongue is plastered on the back roof of the mouth? see how that provides additional upward force? By bringing the very back portion of the tongue up there, notice how the whole tongue now goes on the roof of the mouth.
To me this was the difference in feeling. Before it felt like only the tip of the tongue was going up on the roof, now it feels like the whole tongue is on the roof with more upward force coming from the back of the tongue. If maxilla was a couch, its like before I was trying to move the couch by myself, but with the back of the tongue’s help the idea is that it’s like you just got 2-3 more buddies to help you lift that couch.
The tip is still at that spot, but now the whole tongue is raised.
The Tongue Effect on Maxilla Width
Our tongue posture growing up is the determining factor of our teeth alignment.
Swallow Correctly
This picture is from orthotropics team.
Important to swallow with teeth together and tongue sucking on the upper palate.
No activity from your buccinator ring. (lips, cheeks)
What’s the big deal about Tongue posture and proper swallow?
above picture courtesy of John Mew’s book.
consider the difference in facial growth of the above two children. One had tongue between teeth posture with incorrect swallowing causing lengthening of the face. The boy on the right had great forward facial development just by learning correct swallow and posture as nature intended because he was not fed mushed food as a baby.
Orthodontists commented on his superb jawline and most will think these faces are caused by good genes but how could there be that much difference in siblings?
Its quite amazing to see such a drastic difference in facial height, at same magnification.
And shocking to realize that by age 9, there is already such a big difference in facial development. Makes you wonder, just how much of our current face is different from what our ideal face could have looked like.
Subconscious Connection of Your Tongue
According to Mike…
the back of the tongue is controlled by your subconscious and thus connected to your body’s postural system. Meaning it is auto-pilot system, once you train the back of the tongue it knows or remembers where to stay. This gives us the long term forces we are looking for to change bone.
the front of the tongue represents our conscious mind aspect and therefore we can control it easily but with conscious effort, so when we become unconscious, ie sleep, the front of the tongue doesn’t really know where it’s suppose to stay. It’s all over the place.
There was 1 incident I noticed in the past couple weeks, I was half asleep in my bed laying on back, I notice that the front of the tongue had fallen off from that “spot” but I could faintly notice the back of the tongue was still on the roof, it was subtle and a bit challenging to tell because of my half asleep state but I could def tell the front of the tongue was not on the roof anymore.
Cheesy Smile Practice
The trick is constantly think about getting that back of the tongue to rise to the top.
For beginners, the best way to learn is to make a realllllly wide cheesy smile with teeth together and lips apart (so you can see all your teeth) and the eyebrows raised like the man above is kindly demonstrating.
Then try to swallow. You will feel something strange happening in the back of your throat. That’s the back of your tongue rising up on the roof.
Now repeat this and try to freeze that feeling of the tongue back there, and hold it in place. For most of you this will immediately feel a bit uncomfortable, like your choking on your own tongue.
That’s when you know you are really beginning to involve the back of the tongue now.
Now every time you forget this feeling, do this exercise to remind yourself.
Once you get better you can just do a normal swallow with closed lips, teeth together, no activity from face muscles and you try to hold that back of the tongue in place as it rises up to complete the swallow.
practice with saliva and you can do this 100s of times per day throughout the day, anytime, anywhere and no one will notice.
Practice this all the time. I still do
And try to swallow your food in this manner whenever you can remember.
I think I’m started to develop this swallow on unconscious levels, but I feel my lips are still activating time to time.
“posture change” means the change happens on unconscious levels.
I just watched the season finale of “Show Me The Money 3” a Korean Rap/Hip-hop survival show.
Towards end of the season, one rapper called Iron started being labeled as the “handsome rapper”.
I noticed well before this label that he had one of the better structured faces out of the contestants with forward jaws, and there was one episode I took note of, where it showed him swallow out of nervousness. And I noticed that there was not a single movement in the face, which told me he had tongue to roof of the mouth swallow, and this tells me that he has tongue to palate resting posture. Also sometimes I seen him several times with his masseter muscles firing up, like during tense moments again this is someone that engages the jaws and has good muscle tone. Observing all of this makes sense to me that he is the handsome one with forward jaws.
On the contrast, I saw some faces that weren’t so perfect and the posture they all had in common was they left their mouth open or lips unsealed from time to time.
In the picture above since he is looking down it makes the mandible appear smaller than other head positions but I would say he would be even more handsome if he had bit more volume to the lower jaw, but considering the fact that he too lives in the modern environment its not surprising that his mandible is this size.
The point is, even without Brad Pitt lower jaws, with great tongue posture he is considered good looking to Korean citizens.
Conclusion
Get the back of your tongue involved, it is the real driving force of the mid-face, as it can remember where you place it most consistently. we are after that low, long term forces to remodel the bones.
Researchers has seen that the tongue is a muscular organ & therefore it can change shape and size depending on use. It’s likely that more we practice our tongue to be plastered on the upper palate the wider it becomes, expanding the palate further in the process.
oh and the phrase of the day is “practice makes perfect”
Cheers
About the tongue:
– What effect do you think ‘forceful pushing’ of the tongue in correct posture – rather than simple ‘resting’ – has on forward growth?
– Do you think tongue posture alone can achieve lateral growth without any appliance? How many mm?
This is speculation but I think proper tongue posture – such as full contact with the mouth roof – has beneficial health effects for the actual tongue itself. For example, it would be a lot less dry and hospitable to bacteria.
Here I am at a coffee shop trying really hard to practice this exercise on day 2. I am the youngest of four kids, and my parents never took me to a dentist growing up especially since I took Wonder Woman pride pulling out my teeth on my own. I suppose we could call that bad parenting, but they were raised in a developing country where you only visited a dentist if something really went wrong. I grew up lysping, but with a pretty smile. People would always compliment me on the smile. Years later after I earned a journalism degree, I realized I am better off as a print journalist. My lysp made me a bit insecure as an adult and made me steer away from broadcast journalism and could have also been a reason I got turned down for a movie audition last year. (I am pretty when I am still, but when I start talking I look funny.) First dentist I visited at 13 said I had perfect teeth and that I might want to consider braces to correct a minor overbite. Second dentist I visited at 25 mentioned minor receding gums and gave me a teeth cleaning. Third dentist I visited was at 30, a month ago, who offered fillings for very small cavities and pointed out that I had an overbite and would need to consider braces in the future. He also recommended extracting my wisdom teeth after I complained about jaw pain when I open my mouth too wide and that the jaw also tends to crack. IT WASN’T UNTIL I VISITED the fourth dentist at home to request the wisdom teeth extractions that I heard about my tongue being an issue. This lady immediately called me out on my lysp and poor tongue posture. She explained how years of this bad habit has affected the formation of my jaw and bite and how it is the reason for my jaw pain and even the headaches I feel on both sides of my head just behind my ears. During our first session she tried leveling my teeth because molars were bucking on a cross bite, so it would be easier for me to keep my teeth closed in the normal position and practice my tongue posture. She’s giving me a month to practice before installing braces. She says that because my bones have fully matured at 30, it will be tough using braces to correct my issue, but she wants to exhaust all options before considering surgery. She couldn’t emphasize enough developing a habit of good tongue posturing telling me that it would be counter productive to continue my bad tongue habit (pushing my tongue through the space of my overbite when swallowing and talking) when I wear the braces. She even called me out on mouth breathing — something not even my surgeons told me to stop doing after my deviated septum surgery six years ago — years of sinus problems before that surgery had developed that bad habit too. Got to applaud this dentist. Our meeting was yesterday, and I came across this blog trying to improve the exercise and have found it very helpful. Lysping children might seem endearing, but know that I could lead to major problems later on. I wish I had know sooner.
The other question about the tongue is:
To what extent can the tongue craft the angles of the teeth – particularly the ‘eye teeth’?
In my opinion, the ‘eye teeth’ angle is an important indicator of a healthy, attractive smile. The most attractive smiles, in my opinion, have all four ‘eye teeth’ slanting inwards – visualize an ‘X’ pattern across the mouth where the ‘eye teeth’ point naturally and slightly towards each other (See http://claimingpower.com/great-smile-missing-secret/#comment-2097). These angles indicate a wide, healthy jaw, in my opinion. By contrast, the least attractive smiles, in my opinion, are where the four ‘eye teeth’ point outwards away from each other or straight down – the opposite of the ‘X’ pattern. See below for examples:
http://blog.sesamehub.com/stclair-james/files/2013/11/Matthew-Goforth-Initial-Smile.jpg
http://www.bellevue-ortho.com/images/before-and-after/patrick-k.jpg
http://kimbamcg.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/creepy-smile.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KfzeMzhvupM/UpD6oEiclMI/AAAAAAAAAK0/x_0O8LayMEc/s1600/IMG_6178.JPG
The question is – to what extent can the tongue change the teeth angles to create a wide, healthy-looking ‘X’ pattern for the ‘eye teeth’ and side teeth?
A quick aside:
It would be interesting to see research about jaw muscle development in dogs. Some dogs – like ours – live their entire lives eating a rough diet – hard bones from the butcher, big lamb shanks, vigorously sucking out the bone marrow exercising their tongues and all their teeth. Many other dogs are fed a poor diet of endless, soft canned food and even sweets – the opposite of their natural diet. It would be interesting to see any differences as a result of these very different diets in domesticated dogs.
Interesting stuff – as usual! I have read plenty of scientific articles showing the benefits of breastfeeding on jaw development and from them, it appears clear that it’s a matter both of how often the child sucks, for how long and obviously until what age. The idea that being breastfed also gets the child used to keeping the tongue in the right position makes perfect sense, as the child has to hold the tongue in that position, in suction, to extract the milk. (This is my conclusion both from reading the scientific literature and from observing my own baby). The question is whether mushed food is harmful per se, or whether giving a bit is ok as long as the child continues to be breastfed frequently. I’d love to know how much the girl was breatfed after other food was introduced! My own daughter also refused other food at 6 months, but I was warned that she would become iron deficient if I didn’t get her to eat baby food. I have been feeling guilty all summer because I didn’t feel that I fed her enough other food and now I’m starting to worry that it was still too much! Now my girl is 11 months old and she eats the same food as her parents, but we cut it into smaller pieces, as she only has five teeth. I also still breastfeed her several times a day and night even though my own teeth are certainly taking the consequences… Her father and his mother try to give her “baby food”, but luckily, she usually spits it back at them. 🙂 Logically, pieces of chicken, fish, red meat and vegetables should be better than mush, right? And what about water? Could drinking out of a baby cup (not baby bottle!) be a problem? I’d really like to hear your (or your readers’) thoughts on this!
Tony Balmoral’s speculation that “proper tongue posture – such as full contact with the mouth roof – has beneficial health effects for the actual tongue itself. For example, it would be a lot less dry and hospitable to bacteria.” is also very interesting. My own bite collapsed totally when a dentist removed a wisdom tooth (I also had four teeth removed in adolescence) and since then I cannot chew well or put my teeth together – because there is only contact on one side and even there it’s only 1 mm. Oral myologists haven’t been able to help me, because my teeth have moved too much since I lost the function. Now the upper jaw is quite a bit wider than the lower. Since the loss of functionality, I have had a huge problem with caries although I clean my teeth very carefully and don’t eat particularly much sugar…BUT neither can I eat hard food or let my teeth do what they’re meant to do (chew!). I’m now using one of my daughter’s teething rings a couple of times a day. It may be the reason my fillings keep falling out, but I’d like to see whether it will reduce the occurrence of cavities. It certainly increases salivation and personally, I believe that is more effective than just brushing. Your views on this? What do you think of the idea of adults using teething rings to strengthen their jaws (in general, not with TMJ)?
I’ve been doing this technique for a few days now but, it hurts? I feel like my cheekbones and the maxilla area has pressure on it. Am I doing this correctly? or am I applying too much tongue?
Agree with you Angie: when I get my tongue up my cheekbones feel kinda weird and sometimes even higher around the temple area I feel some sort of interaction, perhaps this is the couch being shifted by multiple friends. Love the idea of it tho. Would appreciate any further elaboration on correct technique. Great blog btw
What do you mean by upper palate?
do you mean hard palate or soft palate?
should the back of the tongue press?
please answer this
back of the tongue pressing lightly on the soft palate. and front of the tongue at the ridges (ruggae) and tip at the incisive papilla
OMG ! ^ this ^ this ^ this. ok i’m done reading now.
how is that even possible ?? i only have the tip of my tongue on the roof..
How about jaw & teeth posture?
I’ve trained my tongue to sit against the palate using a bunch of exercises, and my mouth/lips can close effortlessly, but I’m still not sure where my lower jaw should be resting.
Weird question I know but nothing feels quite right.
Should I close my teeth?
Have them slightly apart?
Further apart?
I see so many different opinions on this. I’ve tried the different ways but nothing feels quite right, but maybe I just need to stick with it and let things adjust more.
Any opinions or advice on this? Does it take time to feel more natural, and what is your experience and how do you do it?
Thanks,
MSD.
I keep teeth closed. at first it felt pretty unnatural but now it has become more normal
Hey, whenever i press my tongue against the roof, the area below my chin tenses up. For example, tilt ur head up, the muscle thats being stretched there, its right under ur chin right?near the neck. I put my hand there and when i press my tongue up, that area seems to be flexed. Any idea why or if im doing it wrong? Thank you
Thank you for creating this website.
My question is, I can’t fit the back of my tongue to my pallet. I can only position my tongue exactly like the picture below the first picture that you posted.
http://claimingpower.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/tongueplacement-295×300.jpg
Will this position suffice? Do you have any methods that will then allow to fit my entire tongue?
I have ordered already the gum you recommend. Also would face pulling help me then allow me to fit my entire tongue?
Thank you for your time.
Hi! I’ve taken your advice for a few days – my teeth have really ached!
I have a small overbite and lower crowding of the front teeth, so when I bite down and pull my tongue to the roof of my mouth, I feel like I’m pushing my lower jaw in simply by having my top jaw over it.
Will my teeth crowd more because of my overbite, or will correct tongue position fix it?
thanks!
correct posture goes a long way. Its difficult to visualize how your lower jaw is getting pushed in… keep teeth in contact as best as possible with tongue on the roof.
Curious to know if I’m doing this properly because when I place my tongue as far back onto the roof where the soft palette is at, I feel like i can’t breathe through my nose? Is my tongue too far back?
The farthest back my tongue can reach is that hard palette and anything farther back into the soft palette has me gasping for air (breathing through my nose). If this isn’t normal, what would be the cause? Pretty frustrating.
the fact that it makes the nasal breathing uncomfortable is a sign you are doing it correct. it got better for me, but you just have to keep trying it.
because of vertical growth of the face, the tongue doesn’t have the space needed so it is pushed back into the throat / airway. also make sure to have good head posture while you do this. I found that tucking the chin in helps open up a little bit of air space.
Thanks for the response. I forgot to note that when my tongue is pressed up on the hard palette and I breathe through my nose it’s like that soft snoring sound? It makes a slight noise like I’m slightly choking/gasping and my cheeks (zygoma) feels pressure. Is this in any way detrimental? I would hate to have my cheek slim down because I’m doing the posture incorrectly.
tongue to roof posture is never detrimental, if anything it will begin to help out your cheekbones.
When I practice this tongue posture, I’ve noticed I still use my cheeks/lips to get the food or saliva on top of the tongue to swallow. I suppose this is not correct, because one wouldn’t want the suction habit and the swallowing is visible from the outside. What would be a correct way to get the food or saliva on top of the tongue, without using the face muscles?
practice by just taking sips of water or saliva. get the teeth together, lips sealed, and just practice sucking moisture up. you can suck without using facial muscles.
There’s no real technique behind it. just suck without involving facial muscle is the only way I can describe it.
Love your site, claimingpoer. You’re really helping people claim power over their appearance with this. Love it.
Anyways, the question is that due to an overbite, my teeth don’t exactly line up correctly with my lower teeth getting pushed behind the upper teeth. Is the best solution to keep them back there and hope that the proper tongue position will align them, or would it be better if we attempted to align the two rows up (even if they don’t exactly do that) while doing the proper tongue placement?
begin to notice your resting oral posture, there is a good chance you keep your teeth apart at rest. Begin to practice tongue on the roof but with teeth together as well, start chewing gum and build muscle tone in order to help with teeth together posture, it may begin to line your bite overtime.
I have the same problem as timothy lu.
I have a deep overbite and malocclusion with recised(pushed backwards) chin.
I couldn’t chew food properly, and upon all no one(family) cared about it as they thought that it isnta problem.
Would the proper tongue placement help me to correct overbite..
Please reply me.
Thnx.
I can lift the back of my tongue to the roof of my mouth at will now just by swallowing properly and holding it there, but I can’t breathe through my nose when the back of my tongue is raised in swallowing position? If I can’t even breathe when my tongue is in ‘correct posture’ what hope do I have?
I’m 17 years old, hoping that not all hope is lost and that I can still change my face to some degree using correct tongue posture, is this correct? Also, does correct tongue posture and nasal breathing have any positive effects on the chin and mandible?
chin and mandible is more affected by your chewing muscle, and keeping a teeth together, closed mouth posture.
all I can say is keep practicing with tongue posture, It used to feel like my tongue was in my airway a bit too but it got better.
This is exactly me! Except I’m a guy. But same age and everything and I have an over bite and I’m hoping I can still change my face.
So, quick question. What does one do with the tongue whilst chewing? I can generally keep my lips closed, teeth together with tongue on roof of month when consciously trying to.
But my tongue just kinda of flops around while chewing? What do you do with your tongue? I saw you explained how to use it to swallow, but should we be keepin the tongue glued to the roof while chewing as well?
Also, when keeping my teeth together i have a hard time NOT clenching…even though I’m a past mouth breather. Any ideas?
the tongue will do its thing while chewing, not really possible to chew with tongue glued to the roof.
The tongue on the roof needs to counter balance the jaw closing muscle to prevent clenching.
Hello,
I had my tongue posture corrected when I was 14 because I was undergoing orthodontic treatment but lately (now I’m 25) I’m noticing that my tongue is going down again…
I always thought I had a long and a receding chin and that the bottom part of my face wasn’t in harmony with the rest of my face.
Could correct tongue posture have a positive impact on my bone? Or is it too late? (I can’t really figure how my chin bone will suddenly grow foward?)
I really wish it was possible actually because I’m thinking of having my chin done with implants by a surgeon :/
Can proper oral posture positively affect the upper part of the face – ie. lift the brow, etc.? Any info. gratefully appreciated!!
As the maxilla moves up and forwards it is likely to affect all these areas as well as good head posture. As shift in gravitational force will change bone deposition overtime. Also chewing more should in theory affect this I believe because our ancestors had much more robust features including more pronounced brows. Apes have very pronounced brows, our ancient ancestors did, and it slowly became less pronounced not from evolution but I believe from reduction in mastication efforts. There was other studies that suggest that strong masticatory force affects brows. I have to go back & look up on it more. I certainly feel I have made some positive difference in this area as well. You will have to try & see, all this is new and I can’t have 100{ae022d2295c0485893c83c8425b5bfafafba893c2d19b1bb9bc4c7c9bf3eeba6} definitive answers. just gathering good clues.
Thanks so much for that information. I should also mention – in 2001 I had upper and lower jaw surgery. The results were fantastic. However, I had always been a mouth – breather and no-one had ever tought me how to do otherwise – nor did I know that it was likely the cause of most of my orthodontic and facial problems. Due to a very slight movement of the front teeth by end 2012 – my Orthodontist made me new wire retainers – long story short – they were a disaster from the start – and my face changed for the worse within 3 weeks. I have been “analyzing” the situation ever since then – finally working out what had happened. I have now been practicing correct oral posture and nose breathing for the last 5 days – I am working on getting my features back to where they were post -surgery (well, 12 months after – once the swelling had gone down…). I am even hoping that with diligent practice – I can achieve better results than I initially achieved with surgery alone. Does that make sense? It should help greatly – shouldn’t it? I am certainly not happy with the way things look at the moment – and very, very unimpressed with my Orthodontist.
make sure to begin chewing good amounts as well. Become very aware of your oral posture.
lips together, teeth together, tongue on the roof of the mouth.
My tongue won’t bend enough to have the back on the palate.Even with the cheesy smile exercise. Only the tip and the first 1/3 of it is able to be on the palate :/
Also, I am having trouble in collecting the additional saliva that is still there after I swallow. If I do the sucking in order to create the vaccum, I feel the sucking is putting pressure inwards into my lower teeth which I’m sure in the long term will make my teeth to move
Is it normal for the tongue to feel tired while placing it on the roof? Also My face has become extremely long and after researching I believe it might be partly because of my tongue placement. I had tooth extractions when I had braces years ago. I loved the way my face after braces but years later I hate it because it’s so long. I’m 36 and my question is. .. is there any solution to my problem besides jaw surgery? I have overjet, open bite, receding chin and long face. Im scared to have surgery because I think it might make things worst and not help face length. I’d rather find another solution but I need to do something because I’m so depressed over the change in my face over the couple years. Also is it even possible for me to have correct tongue posture since I had teeth extracted and might not have enough room for my tongue now. Please help! Thank you!
this blog is trying to explore how much change is possible in adults, these are answers we are still seeking so I can’t give definitive answers but what I can say is that your face will begin to improve by working on your oral posture and muscle tone (jaw muscle)
Hi, I have a lower jaw narrower than my top one and when I move my tongue against the pAlate I feel like there is no pressure on the lower jaw to help widen it . Should my tongue be thick and pushing up down sideways and front or plainly on the top palate not pushing lower teeth apart
hard to say, you could have poor resting oral posture to cause the narrow lower jaw. Maybe look to some appliance to begin widening it at the same time chew more and keep the mouth closed. Chewing could overtime begin to expand the lower jaw…
Just wondering if there are any more “Before and After Photos” likely to be forthcoming on the site? Would love to see some more!!
hi guys
this is great , i have been doing plata expansion and face pulling for over a year with an orthodontist in london. i found this and have been practising the posture. lipio shut , teeth together and tongue on roof of mouth.
my question is if i seem to swallow at certain points a feel a pressure either side of teh bridge of my nose and down towards the tip.
is this the sweet spot and the effect of pushing we air looking for? its not painful but feels sort of good.
any thoughts if i’m getting it right. practise is right its really getting easier for me now
thnka
I have felt pressure and do feel certain things from time to time, its a good sign, if your forces are directed upwards by the tongue
I purchased a mouthpiece that has a shelf for the tongue and when the tongue is placed on the shelf it is in contact with the roof of the mouth. The mouthpiece not only helps to position the tongue at the roof of the mouth it teaches you how to swallow without moving the facial muscles and how to breathe through your nose with a proper lip seal. Also, it is very comfortable to wear. It is the best $30.00 I have ever spent and I purchased the Nose Breathe Mouthpiece (http://www.nosebreathe.com) from Dr. Steven Sue DDS
I have recently found your website and I find it really interesting. But I have a few questions.. I’m really confused on what I have to do?
I’m korean and I find that if I look at my baby- younger photos I had a broad squarish jaw, big round eyes, a ski slope nose, a pointy chin, and a short face. But then around 7th grade my face started to become longer and thinner, my nose became longer and flatter, my cheeks and cheekbones were low and flat, my chin became square wide and long, and my eyes(which were always complimented by a lot) became somehow..ugly and small.. but as I read your website on how to fix these things..here are the things that have confused me.
When I look at pics I sort of have hollowed out cheeks(only when smiling because my face is chubby from gaining fat), I have chewed gum and cinnamon sticks(yes the hard sticks) since I was lil, my tongue posture and placement needs some fixing but I find that swallowing with my mouth closed and all your other tips aren’t uncomfortable and it’s easy to fix.. at least i think so if i’m doing it correctly, if you look at the side profile and pics of me my ramus is very prominent but long and seems almost 90 degrees..but if you see my side profile my lower lip is behind my upper lip but it doesn’t seem like I have a underdeveloped chin/jaw and I don’t have a under or over bite, and I have always had straight teeth but my smile is small and narrow(also my mouth size is very small) and I have a misaligned jaw and tmj so if I close my teeth my jaw is uncomfortable and crooked, I also don’t snore and don’t seem to open my mouth when I’m sleeping(I usual clench my jaw instead) and I grind my teeth when I sleep… so I don’t know what’s wrong with me? And I don’t know what to do..and when I see pics of my friends who are considered beautiful they DO have a short face and they DO have a pretty jawline and one of them DOES have a really square jaw cept their chin is quite pointy..
so as you can see from what I have wrote..I am very confused on how to improve my face..is there a way to improve my face?? I’m only 17 1/2 and a girl.. and I don’t think my ramus was always that long? I believe my ramus became longer after my tmj became worse.. Could it be that my neck is short?..but my face looks long my my height….please help.. I need help on how to improve my face.. Thank you
begin to notice how your posturing your mouth at rest, you should keep your jaw should be closed with teeth touching and you need to raise the back part of the tongue up as described in this post. and begin chewing some tough gum. Its those three things that matter for improving the face. Nice strong jaw muscles and good tongue posture with correct swallowing pattern. For your specific case its difficult to diagnose just by reading words
Thank you for replying! I would like to send pictures of my jaw but I don’t want it all over the internet and I don’t know where to send to
claimingpower10@gmail.com
Hi, thank you for the great work on digging deep on these issues!
When I got enlightened about the reasons that made my face and teeth the way they are, I immediately wanted to train my tongue to stay up. With these exercices I did it, and honestly, woke up on the third morning with the realisation that my tongue had stayed against the palate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdDsMCvDN5Q
Now I’m hoping that my tongue would do the job on getting my palate wider, as no kind of appliance fits into my budget. However my palate is very narrow and it’s hard to keep the tongue in an ideal position. It’s very much crammed in there! At the moment I just focus on widening the middle part of the arch, which curves inside. Even that is a challenge. I try to keep the edges of the tongue pressing the teeth outwards, as I see the palatial expanders doing, but very often the tongue slips upwards the narrow but high palate and touches instead the gums above the teeth. It is still pushing them outwards, but I’m wondering if it would be more efficient, getting more leverage, if the tongue would manage to stay in contact with the teeth. I guess it would be, but very hard to do at least at the stage my dental arch is at the moment. Hopefully it will get easier by time.
By chance I happened to find this in a palatal bar introduction (http://www.drbarrowes.com/parts.asp):
“The upper first molars are generally the largest teeth in the mouth. As they go, so goes the bite. Once they are in proper position – the other teeth tend to fall into place.”
So when wondering how to position the tongue inside a ridiculously narrow and curvy dental arch, I should probably pay attention that at least the first molars get enough pressure from the tongue.
Can proper oral posture – over time – correct slight orthodontic regression?
Can proper oral posture – over time – correct slight orthodontic regression?
what are you referring to when you say orthodontic regression?
if you are talking about relapse to more crowded teeth then yes correcting oral posture is the path & real cure for malocclusion.
Thanks for that – yes – I meant orthodontic relapse (my mistake)!
Hi, I have a few questions. First off, my top row of teeth are completely straight, no wisdoms yet, but wondering if that even thought they are perfectly straight could I still widen my palate and make my midface wider over the years by using this correct tongue position? Also, my bottom jaw is somewhat narrow, and the bottom front teeth are slightly crooked, not noticeable unless concentrated on. Over time will the correct tongue posture fix those teeth? I also heard that your lower jaw doesn’t stop growing until around 21-22 for men due to our testosterone, but I was wondering if i could square out my jaw by then? I’m 17 and my jaw is close to being squared but it still has somewhat a soft angle. Last thing, I’ve notice that my midface seems flat and long, will this correct posture over the years unflatten and add some width to my face? Thanks for this article by the way, very interesting.
yes
Wow I Love this website! Thanks so much for the articles; Jesus Christ Bless! 🙂
Hello, I am working. On correct posture and I have four extractions from braces. I’ve noticed that I can get the back of tongue on the roof, should I feel a slight cramp in tongue? Also when I do this I feel as if the top of my tongue is pressing too hard on the front of my teeth should I get dental implants?
I am having a bit of a problem here, I am not able to lift the back part of the tongue to touch the soft palate, if I try really really hard I am able to do it but cant keep it there for long. It just feels as if I dont have enough space in my mouth. What should I do?
Also do you have to hold this posture throughout the day or is this only while we swallow?
Will this posture help with my narrow jawline and slight receding chin?
Thank you
When I do the exercise I can’t breathe because of the position that the back of my tongue is in… am I supposed to lower it when I inhale/exhale?
Are there any devices one can order as an adult to widen jaw or move jaw forward ?
Also, I have heard there is something called neuro programming which can change your jaw ?
Hi! I tried to do correct tongue posture but somehow I only managed to keep the tip of the tongue and the back of the tongue to the roof of the mouth but couldn’t make the middle part touch the roof. What should I do?
do the best you can and you may find that overtime you will notice changes
Hi , I am very thankful about your excellent article and I have begin to train about the correct posture but I faced a problem : when I put the back of tongue in its correct place and swallow the saliva several times , I noticed that there is some saliva in the front of my mouth behind the incisors that I can not swallow . what should I do to swallow this saliva?
I hope you answer me .
sweep the tip of your tongue down into the bottom of front incisor to literally scoop it up. or suck with your mouth which will collect all the moisture
when i put my back of the tongue on the palate i cant breath , how should i keep it at the palate?
try to keep it up slightly less.. one is in a difficult position, but I encourage you to keep working at it, I have seen my airway begin to change as I continued. Palate expansion may help you
but it’s ok without palate expansion right? ,will time will expand it?
I get this too. Maybe I’m creating too much of a vacuum. What’s palate expansion?
Hi Claiming Power,
I just read through a few of your articles and thought they were really interesting and informative! When I was younger I had to get braces to correct an overbite and always wondered if pushing my tongue up against the back of my teeth was the cause of it (my mother didn’t know and got annoyed with me asking her). I don’t know, it was just an observation and maybe it was or wasn’t correct. That’s beside the point though!
I know in most of your articles you say you favor the square face shape. I have more of an oval/heart shaped face and I do like it. I feel it suits me better than a very prominent square face ever would, but I do want a more defined (not more prominent/larger) jawline and for my cheeks to hollow out. I’ve tried the adjusting my tongue posture and it feel it working already along my jaw and cheeks.
If I continue doing this it should reveal or accentuate my face shape, correct? I know it sounds silly, I just don’t want my face to morphed into a different shape entirely XD
I have a heart-shaped face too! I used to have much stronger jaw muscles now they have weakened A LOT.
I miss my old face! It does look a whole lot better. It won’t “square” it out heaps. Trust me accentuates that heart shape!
Having my wisdom teeth removed probably changed it too. I can show you some of my old and current photos if you want to see what I mean. Funny back then I hated my strong jawline. Now I miss it!
I have struggled with tongue thrusts and my dentist even gave me the spikes behind my teeth. But once he took them off I kept doing it. I just struggle because I feel like the proper way to swallow doesn’t get all the saliva!! How do I swallow all the saliva pooled up at the bottom of my mouth ! My teeth are getting all messed up because I can’t swallow right but I feel like swallowing right doesn’t work and j don’t want braces again. What do I do!? Is it normal to have saliva in that part of my mouth and how do I get rid of it !? HELP
Thanks a lot for this wonderful article!
I’m practicing right now. Is it normal that my tongue begins to be soar after few minutes that I’m pushing upwards?
I started this tongue posture correction only couple of days ago.
Thank you
I’m 19 years old, and I had a mouth breathing problem due to sinus issues for about all my life, until half a year ago. Then I came across the “proper tongue posture”, and realized my mouth breathing and poor posture due to endless hours of being on the computer, phone, eating posture, my facial growth has been effected. I’m not going to release pictures of my progress, but I started on 06/08/2015 and up until today, 24/08/2015 and saw legitimate changes, first when my front teeth on my upper set of teeth began to be able to hit the brackets of my braces on my lower teeth, is then when I began to dig through my phone from the day i was analyzing my face via camera on my phone, and took a picture today, and compared the two. My jawline was more visible, my face was pushed forward quite significantly when i compared where my eyes were, like visible changes between the two, and my receding chin has gotten slightly better also.
For those who are wondering, I probably put my tongue up the roof of my mouth for about 4-6 hours a day, and I don’t just put it up there, I make a little vacuum in my mouth to plant it flat on, and actually apply force on it, in the beginning it began to tire me out quite quickly and my tongue became sore, but up until now I can apply pressure for hours without my tongue getting sore. My tongue is much stronger, and placing my tongue on the roof of my mouth no longer is a chore, since it’s became an automatic habit, where I don’t even need to think about it.
When I tried to place my tongue on the palate, I am exerting pressure as though I am biting. Am I doing it correctly? I feel strain in my tongue too. After awhile, my jaw feel soar.
I’ve just had a consultation with my local orthodontist and she didn’t want to treat me because she felt I had an realistic expectations. All I wanted was to expand my palete enough so I can practice proper tongue posture. She dismissed the idea and said the tongue shouldn’t be on the roof of the mouth but nearer to the floor of the mouth! She also said my top arch was straight and wide(it’s actually v shaped, high roofed and one side is squint). I asked her how wide my top arch was and she didmissed the question and basically said there is no reliable number to compare with. I said I just wanted a number and not a comparison. I felt that she was dismissing me as a patient and she talked down at me. It was shocking that an orthodontist at a well known practice doesn’t have a clue about proper tongue posture!!! Crazy. I’ve booked another consultation with a different orthodontics for next week. I hope he/she will be more open to helping me. Any one had a similar expereince?
GUYS PLEASE HELP!!
I suffer from breathing issues as long as I know, also my nose seems constricted whenever I lie down and I am a mouth-breather!
From some time I have noticed that my tongue seems ‘dented’ when I stick it out, it stays that way for like 2-3 seconds and becomes normal but when I close my mouth and stick my tongue again, the dents are still there.
I also have slight protruded front 2 teeth, my orthodontist wants me to remove 4 premolars in order to make my smile pretty but the thing is I just read on the internet that doing so will narrow down the arch even more and it will be more difficult to rest the tongue, it will feel crowded and might even enhance my breathing issues, so what should I do?
My teeth are not even that bad to begin with honestly, but he said that I will have that ‘Hollywood smile’ if I do this procedure, now I am stuck, so what should I do? Please HELP
I really want a better smile but don’t want to mess up with my airway 🙁
I would never ever recommend extraction
Is it normal for the uvula to feel a little sore as the tongue is pushed to the roof of the mouth? Is the uvula supposed to even be pushed back? If not, how do you avoid doing that?
I have quite bad TMJD. Displaced discs and arthritis on both sides, on one side the disc doesn’t recapture at all. I have a tough time getting my jaw into a comfortable position at all! It feels like I have to force it closed because it’s so stiff.
I tried these tongue posture exercises last night and also this morning. My jaw feels so much more stable when I do! And am able to close my mouth with no trouble. Thanks again! I will continue doing them.
I’m 24 and I always needed braces. Didn’t get them as a kid . I recently saw an old pic of me when I was 6 or so and I couldn’t believe how amazing my jaw line was.
I’d be beautiful if I knew from an early age. Now I’m just average or a little above average looks.
Anyways my orthodontist wants to extract all 4 of my wisdom tooth before putting on braces or invisilign. I have crowding and a 98{ae022d2295c0485893c83c8425b5bfafafba893c2d19b1bb9bc4c7c9bf3eeba6} overbite.
I do not agree at all of taking them out but she made a good point, they impacted my teeth and never came out of the gums like they’re suppose too. Thank you for all the info, I just started correcting my tongue posture and correcting my swallowing. I have hope in 10 years my lower jaw will be bigger than today !!
Advice ?
How do you breathe through your nose if the correct tongue posture blocks your airways?
My tongue keeps resting on the back of my front teeth and pushing them forward..how do stop my tongue from pushing my front teeth forward
If your tongue is always resting on your front teeth.. Can that cause your teeth to sick out
In for answers…
It is actually not one muscle or rest posture. It is an entire program to re-pattern many muscles and functions. The principal behind myofunctional therapy is neurologic re-education. I work with Marc Moeller(my son) teaching in the AOMT to bring more trained therapists to do this work.
Hi,
I have been using these techniques to better my tongue position and like everyone else I have trouble breathing with the back of my tongue on the roof of my mouth. Also when I try to do this, there seems to be tension in my lower jaw and it begins to hurt. Is this normal? If so, when can I expect this to go away?
I have a doubt. Since my childhood I breath through my mouth. Now in my 21 i came to know the negative effects of mouth breathing.
From now onward if I breath properly can I adverse the negative effects on my face?
Can I get defined jawline and good look?
Do my maxilla will come forward?
Have have the same question – more or less. I was a mouth-breather until almost 2 years ago – since I have been practicing proper oral Posture. I am 56 – can this still help with bone remodeling? I also have some extra facial asymmetry from jaw surgery (16 years ago) – can it also help with this?
Can someone please help me. I’m 17 and I have been a mouth breather my whole life. My face is long and chin is receding. I have a strong jawline but it slants downward. My mother said when I was about 12 months old or less I started declining breast feeding and I started eating more food. I feel like this has also made my face the way it is today. I have an over bite and my lower jaw is narrowed than my upper. I try swallowing correct and breathing correctly with my whole tongue on my palette but it seems almost impossible and I don’t know if I’m doing it right. Is there anything I can wear in my mouth while I sleep to position my tongue right? Will doing this all still be able to change my face. I’m 17. I’m also getting braces and I don’t know if they will help or make it worse. Someone please help me!
I have been using correct tongue posture throughout the day, but at night time my jaw falls open when I sleep. The only way I can keep my tongue on my palate is by staying awake. I feel like I’m undoing all the work I’ve done in the day. I have a huge overbite. Please help me to know what I can do to keep my mouth shut and my tongue in the correct posture at night.
I currently have a pretty bad overbite.
When I am practicing this proper tongue posture and place my teeth together, do I rest them in this natural overbite placement, or do I need to move my lower jaw forward to improve this bite?
Thanks!
How do i make sure the tongue is in the correct spot when i sleep?
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