I’m all about preaching the benefits of mewing, but there are always two sides to the coin.
The last thing I want you to do is incorrect mewing, which is why in this article, we’re going to go over the main risks of mewing so that you don’t make the same mistakes I did!
Short answer: yes, below is a list of the most common issues
Hard Mewing
Hard mewing is when you intentionally push your tongue and jaw muscles with excessive force, which can cause damage to your teeth, jaw, and facial muscles.
This can lead to joint problems, which can cause pain, clicking, or popping sounds in the jaw joint. Hard mewing also leads to a lot unwanted facial changes, like asymmetry or a recessed chin.
Many people in the mewing community preach the idea of “hard mewing,” while mewing is a varying subject for everyone, I generally wouldn’t recommend hard mewing to your average mewer.
The only reasons why you should be hard mewing are either: you aren’t seeing any progress after months or years, you’re unable to soft mew correctly, or you have an abnormally narrow palate.
Those are the only circumstances that allow for hard mewing. Other than that, stick with what’s recommended!
To avoid hard mewing, don’t overly engage the facial muscles and the tongue. Make sure that you’re tongue is up against your palate by using a suction hold and gentle force.
Subacute Jaw Joint Problems
Subacute jaw joint problems are another risk associated with mewing. These problems can occur when there is excessive pressure on the jaw joint, causing it to become inflamed or irritated. This can cause pain and clicking or popping sounds in the jaw joint.
Mike Mew advises against mewing if you have subacute jaw point problems since it’s shown to cause even more damage.
In severe cases, subacute jaw joint problems can lead to chronic pain and difficulty opening or closing the jaw.
If you have subacute jaw joint problems, don’t mew until you get it treated. Instead, use an extremely gentle force to keep the tongue up and avoid mouth breathing and other underlying issues.
Misaligned/Damaged Teeth
Mewing can cause misaligned or damaged teeth when done incorrectly. While these symptoms aren’t necessarily tied to mewing, doing this technique incorrectly is one of the biggest risks (we’ll go into more detail in the next section).
This risk stems from touching your teeth with the tongue, especially the front teeth. When you do this, the subtle force will push the teeth outwards, causing various malocclusions.
When you mew, try to avoid as much teeth contact as possible. You might not be able not to touch your back teeth with your tongue, but you can definitely stop it from touching the front. Touching the back teeth won’t have any adverse effects and is usually inevitable for any beginner.
Improper Mewing
Improper mewing is one of the biggest risks while mewing. This technique follows the “tropic” premise, which is the idea that your habits and lifestyle can greatly affect your facial structure.
Since we know that mewing can change the face for the better, it can also change the face for the worse. Incorrect mewing will have a detrimental effect to your face depending on how long you’ve been doing it.
That’s why I always recommend anyone on their mewing journey to stay skeptical, don’t get comfortable too quickly with your mewing technique because you might be doing it incorrectly.
Throughout my own mewing journey, there have been times when I’ve changed my mewing technique. I’ve eventually reached a perfect technique tailored to my facial structure, which is why I’m here to help you reach yours.
The best way you can avoid improper mewing is to try to get these 4 principles perfect:
- Even force throughout the entire palate
- Entire tongue across the entire palate, including the back
- 24/7 mewing without pause
- Teeth touching
While these are surface-level fundamentals, they are the first step to ensuring you’re correctly mewing. If you want a more detailed explanation, read my guide here.
It’s essential to focus on correct tongue posture and avoid excessive pressure on the jaw and teeth to avoid improper mewing.
Breathing Problems
This is one of the most common issues for beginner mewers. Breathing problems such as the inability to breathe, irregular breathing, and shallow breathing are all symptoms of incorrect mewing.
But what causes it? Most breathing problems are caused when your tongue is pushed far back into the palate, or your tongue is pushed too hard against the palate. This blocks the airway, which causes a multitude of breathing issues.
I have an article that goes much deeper into what causes breathing problems; if you have this problem, consider reading!
Lack of “Evidence”
One of the biggest reasons why people first stray away from mewing is because the funded, ‘orthodontic’ websites spread the false message that mewing lacks evidence. In reality, multitudes of different scientific sources point to the same conclusion that mewing is functional.
There are multiple sources directly documenting the effectiveness of mewing. But weirdly enough, articles talking about the lack of evidence don’t show these.
List of sources:
The way you position your tongue and the peak torque of your knee flexion are linked. To put it simply, your tongue posture is connected to your overall body posture.
Functional treatment of snoring based on the tongue-repositioning manoeuvre – Engelke et al. (2010)
The study discovered that positioning the tongue correctly along with using an oral shield can effectively decrease snoring in patients with a normal BMI.
Expansion/Facemask Treatment of an Adult Class III Malocclusion – Jackson et al. (2014)
The study examined the effectiveness of palatal expansion and face mask treatment for adults by analyzing a case of a 19-year-old with an underbite. The treatment involved expanding and repositioning the maxilla.
There are much more articles listing the various studies taken around mewing, if you want to learn about the research behind mewing in more detail, check them out!
Summary
Mewing is a simple and subtle technique that has gained popularity in recent years. While it may offer benefits such as improved facial structure and oral health, there are also risks associated with the practice.
These risks include hard mewing, subacute jaw joint problems, misaligned or damaged teeth, improper mewing, breathing problems, and the ‘lack’ of scientific evidence to support its effectiveness.