Many people on the internet question the credibility of mewing. What is this ridiculous craze, and is it fake? Is it just a hoax made to get more views? Those are all valid questions.
After all, you don’t want to accidentally mess up your face doing some obscure, unfounded technique. Most people then ask themselves whether the man behind mewing, Mike Mew, should be trusted.
Dr. Mike Mew is a British orthodontist that, along with his father John Mew, popularized the idea of mewing as we know it today. He did not come up with the term itself, though. It was something that was created by the internet. He has been a dentist since 1993 and officially became a specialist dentist just in 2004.
I know that speculation runs rampant, and it can be easy to attack the Mews rather than the veracity of their ideas. However, mewing is not actually what is studied by the Mew father and son duo.
Their focus was on how proper oral posture affected dental malocclusions. Over time, this idea turned into something like mewing as we understand it today.
Mike Mew
Unlike his father, Dr. John Mew, you cannot find a lot of information about who Mike Mew is and his life outside of orthodontics. But he is a very public figure on his YouTube channel, Orthotropics.
In that channel, he discusses mewing, how to do it, and its benefits. His most popular videos centralize on what the effect of mewing is on the face. For example, his video “What Makes A Face Attractive, Beautiful, Charming, Healthy, Noticeable & Pretty by Dr. Mike Mew” has more than 700 thousand views. This marketing may be how mewing came to be the “mewing” we understand today.
Mike Mew is a third-generation orthodontist, with his father and grandfather being in the same profession as him.
His father, Dr. John Mew, was the pioneer of Othrotropics. For a more comprehensive article, you can check out our History of Mewing here.
Contrary to what his critics claim, Dr. Mike Mew never had his license taken away to practice. He was banned from the British Orthodontic Society for his ideas, which is nothing more than a club. If the cause of malocclusions and jaw problems in children is prevented early on, then orthodontists won’t be able to make money off surgeries, headgear, braces, etc.
To summarize the history of mewing, it first emerged to look into how to fix problems with teeth. It dives into the deeper and underlying reasons why malocclusions occur and how to correct them. Today, the idea of mewing is much more different. The gears have switched from dental problems to aesthetics. This shift, in part, was because of Mike Mew and communities on Reddit and various forums.
Funnily enough, the word mewing did not come from the Mews themselves. It was probably a product of the internet getting acquainted with the process and associating it with the Mews.
Sure enough, Mike Mew has adapted it and has several videos on his YouTube channel dedicated to just that. His most viewed video is entitled “Doing Mewing.”
Mike Mew is also a part of a group called the International Association of Facial Growth Guidance (IAFGG).
The organization is a nonprofit that focuses on the spread of Orthotropic practice all over the world. They have members worldwide, and they are a continuously growing association.
According to the Orthotropics website, Dr. Mike Mew is also a lead clinician at the London School of Facial Orthotropics. The school is a teaching center dedicated to teaching and practicing Orthotropics. It has been around since 1983 and claims to look into the underlying causes of malocclusion.
The presence of Dr. Mike Mew in many orthodontic and orthotropic channels is pretty evident. He’s done a significant amount of research in the field of orthotropics. He also has many videos about that on his YouTube channel.
Orthotropics
You may be wondering what orthotropics is. It is essentially just another subsection of dentistry. And it focuses on the face and how to influence growth through proper posture. The word literally means straight growth.
This field of study centralizes ideas based on the underlying issues with dental problems. While traditional dentistry attempts to fix problems by applying a band-aid to treat symptoms, Orthotropics looks into the more subtle reasons and seeks to prevent dental problems with good posture.
Orthotropics is the backbone of mewing because it has all the necessary studies and research needed to back facial change through proper tongue posture.
However, despite numerous case studies worldwide and the orthotropics website, many still aren’t convinced.
The Mews have faced consistent backlash and criticism from the dental community regarding their belief systems. Despite having scientific proof, orthotropics (and mewing) is still an unorthodox approach.
This reason probably contributes to why mewing still does not have much conclusive research dedicated to it. Researching a topic is difficult when the entire industry is against you.
The idea of orthotropics defies traditional dental standards, so it’s not practiced that much. Hopefully, there will be more studies dedicated to it in the future so that access to the field becomes easier for the average person. Traditional orthodontics has helped many people, but it’s also done plenty of harm.
If you think the Mews are unscientific, keep in mind they’ve done a lot of research in their clinic for years with clear before/after photos. Check out our article on the scientific evidence behind mewing.
Can You Trust Dr. Mike Mew?
Okay, by this point, you know at least a little bit about Dr. Mike Mew and orthotropics. Now comes the question of whether to trust what he says or not. Personally, what you believe in should be up to you. But, you honestly can’t ignore all the evidence that backs up the idea of mewing.
Understandably, anyone who comes across mewing will be skeptical at first. I mean, changing your entire face and looking more attractive just by doing proper tongue posture? That seems like something too good to be true. At first, I was skeptical too. But the research and science behind mewing are undeniable. You can find case studies of the Mews in their website Orthotropics. There, you will see proof of how the entire process works.
Usually, this is where I would say that the best choice is to consult your dentist or a specialist. But in this case, you really can’t. Mewing and orthotropics still ignite a questionable debate among many professionals. The ideas of Dr. John Mew and Dr. Mike Mew are not always accepted as fact, though that is changing.
That said, you will have to exercise your judgment on this one. While yes, Dr. Mew’s goal is to make money like anybody else, he clearly believes in his mission of helping save people’s faces and airways. Personally, my answer would be yes; you can trust him.
Mewing is not as uncommon as many people would lead you to believe. It’s practiced in traditional dentistry in many cases. Many attractive people just have their tongue sitting on the roof of their mouth naturally without anybody telling them to mew.
A great example of this would be the Myobrace, sometimes called a trainer. This device is used by younger children to teens to help fix teeth problems. They advertise this device as something you can use to avoid braces in the future. Essentially, it looks like a mouthguard. What it does is it forces the user to mew. The process of wearing Myobrace banks a lot on the use of proper oral techniques and habits. The treatment would not work without utilizing proper oral habits.
In fact, a Myobrace has a little tip on it that the dentist will instruct you to place your tongue on. Doing this facilitates proper tongue posture and placing your tongue upon your palate.
The Myobrace is a very well-respected and used tool all over the world. The fact that this is true shows that mewing and orthotropics plays a part even in traditional dentistry. The premise of mewing has existed as far back as the early 1900s, and it has evolved in use and purpose continuously.
What or who you wish to place your trust in is completely and totally up to you. The explanations in this article only serve to help you make your choice. Ultimately though, proper oral posture is still something you should do as it provides numerous health benefits. If anything, you should trust and believe in that.
