Just when regular mewing seemed hard enough, here comes hard another concept: hard mewing.
Hard mewing, as described by Dr. Mike Mew, is using as much force as you physically can on the roof of the mouth. Individuals who engage in hard mewing often say that results can be seen faster than when compared to regular mewing. The benefit of pressing harder is it reinforces the nerve pathways for mewing.
Proper posture is still the basis for hard mewing. Patients whom Dr. Mike Mew interviewed mentioned that they always had their lips shut to ensure that they are committing to good posture. However, during the actual interview, he would still pinpoint that some of them still held their mouths open unconsciously.
Although there are no studies on hard mewing, there are still people who have seen results with it over time. Dr. Mike Mew even suggested that hard mewing may be encouraging your body to build a neural pathway along the jaws and cheeks to reinforce good oral posture.
Hard Mewing and Regular Mewing
Soft or regular mewing focuses on the tongue. The functions of the tongue are not just limited to the oral cavity. The tongue also allows for proper breathing, swallowing, chewing, speaking, and it also has effects on the lower body muscle and posture (Bordoni et al., 2018). Thus, good tongue posture affects not just facial structure but the whole body as well.
Now, you probably know that regular mewing entails putting your tongue on the roof of your mouth. The pressure needed to do this should be very light and comfortable, and you don’t need to apply extra force. The only force you should apply is whatever force it takes for the tongue to “rest” on the upper palate and not sink back.
However, for hard mewing, you will feel the difference since the pressure is more significant than with soft mewing. With hard mewing, you’re trying to jam the tongue onto the upper palate as hard as you can, instead of just resting it there.
The key to hard mewing is to make sure that your tongue doesn’t get tired out from pressing too hard. If you stop pressing 24/7 on the roof of your mouth because your tongue is tired, then hard mewing becomes less effective than regular mewing.
In soft or regular mewing, you should be able to feel a “suction hold.” This is the creation of a vacuum between your tongue and upper palate.
A suction hold happens with little to no force being applied on the roof of the mouth. Think of it as the natural result of practicing mewing in your daily routine. While doing hard mewing, you will not have a chance to form a vacuum. You simply press too hard to ever let the vacuum take hold.
The basic notion of hard mewing is that you bring as much pressure as you can to the roof of your mouth with just the tongue.
How to Do Hard Mewing the Safe Way
Hard mewing that is practiced continuously is thought to give faster results than regular mewing. Here are the steps to ensure you are engaging in good tongue posture via hard mewing.
Tongue Pressure
You need to be sure that you are holding the back of your tongue at the roof of your mouth with great force. Most people who engage in hard mewing for the first time find this problematic.
Some individuals only manage to apply force to the tip of the tongue. Too much pressure at the tip of the tongue is an incorrect way to mew, as you might be pushing your front teeth forward. Instead of giving you good facial structure, you might end up just giving yourself an overbite.
The back of the tongue is about 100 times stronger than the tip of the tongue, so put this force to good use. When you are applying pressure, you will always have to start with a conscious effort to push the upper palate with the back of the tongue. But as time goes by, you will not need any reminding.
Good Posture
Since you will need great force to push on the roof of your mouth by using only the tongue, having good posture will help with this. Your back should be straight, and your chin tucked backward. Practice the McKenzie Chin Tuck religiously:
Most of us engage in slumped over posture without even knowing. A simple habit of using mobile phones or working on a computer encourages having bad posture. We have to continually remind ourselves to keep our backs straight and chin back while the tongue is pushing upwards on the maxilla.
Having good posture also allows you to generate the right amount of pressure needed for hard mewing. Remember that the key to hard mewing is using a lot of force, and your body should cooperate with you to achieve this.
Frequent Tongue Swallowing
Hard mewing works best if you are swallowing correctly and regularly. Your swallowing technique should engage the tongue muscles, thus applying force on your maxilla. Every time you swallow, the back of your tongue rises, and you end up applying lots of force to your maxilla. As a result, frequent swallowing is a staple of hard mewing.
Training yourself to swallow properly allows for faster hard mewing results. Here is a video by Dr. John Mew that tackles how to improve incorrect swallowing.
Does Hard Mewing Work?
Although there are no scientific studies on hard mewing, here are some testimonials of people who practice hard mewing.
Testimonial #1
Here is a Reddit user who is a 19-year-old that has been practicing hard mewing for nine months. He states that he started with regular mewing then eventually moved into hard mewing. He was utilizing the same angles and lighting so people can quickly tell the changes in his facial structure.
His maxilla and chin area became more forward, and the jawline has become more prominent. His nose became noticeably smaller, and the hump on the nose became less visible.
Testimonial #2
For our reference, we’ll see the progress of Youtuber Tomaazo. He had been hard mewing for eight months.
Here is the video uploaded on Youtube. His nose has become less prominent. His chin doesn’t appear to be sagging anymore, and the most noteworthy of all the changes is his jawline. Looking at the before and after photos, it seems like he became a different person just by mewing.
Other testimonials can be found online, such as one user’s experience on the great work forum. However, the two examples above are one of the few before/after images of confirmed hard mewers. It’s easier to acknowledge changes by mewing when photo evidence goes along with it.
The Downside of Hard Mewing
There might be risks to engaging in hard mewing. You might experience jaw problems, and Dr. Mike Mew mentions that once you get yourself into these kinds of issues, you might not be able to get out.
Here are some symptoms that will tell you that you’re doing hard mewing the wrong way.
Maximum Opening of the Mouth
When you are starting hard mewing for the first time, you might find it troublesome to open your mouth all the way. An average person should be able to have three fingers in their mouth.
If you can’t get three fingers’ length in your mouth, you should check for any discomfort in your jawbone since you might be overdoing it. However, this is not entirely true for all people; there are people born with a relatively small mouth; thus, the maximum opening is also tiny.
Scalloping of the Tongue
If you apply too much force on your tongue and you do this for more extended periods while pushing it into your teeth, it will scallop. You will notice marks on the sides or even at the top side of the tongue; this often looks like scallop wedges. Dr. Mew suggests that you rest your tongue for a bit and then carefully check your tongue and see where the marks are.
Once you know where the scallops are, you will know for sure what is causing them. If it’s from too much contact with the sides of the teeth, then you need to adjust your mewing technique, as you should not be pushing on the teeth.
Jaw Joints Test
For someone who’s been practicing hard mewing, it’s inevitable to feel jaw joint pain. One way to test for jaw problems is the pinky test. Place your two pinky fingers inside your ear and open and close your jaws.
If you feel any knocking or cracking sounds while making this gesture, you might have an acute jaw joint problem. You should slow down on chewing or hard mewing.
Are You a Candidate for Hard Mewing?
With all this information we have laid out, you might be wondering if hard mewing is the best technique for you. We’d like to reiterate that there is still no scientific evidence that backs up hard mewing, but people in different platforms have posted their hard mewing results.
If you’re curious, you can try hard mewing, but you need to make sure that you incorporate it with good tongue pressure, body posture, and enforced tongue swallowing.
Remember, the effectiveness of hard mewing not only lies in your ability to apply a lot of pressure at the roof of your mouth but also in your ability to do it consistently. Hard mewing should only be an option if it doesn’t tire out your tongue from staying on the roof of the mouth 24/7.
