My take on the Mews

John and Mike Mew have been vocal for decades... What do I agree with? What do I disagree with?

Check out the youtube version:

Now onto the article…

A number of people have asked me in the past whether I agree with ‘Mewing’ and whether I agree with the philosophy of the Mews.

So I’m going to set the record straight in this post once and for all.

Who are the Mews?

John and Mike Mew are a father and son dentist combo who live in the UK.

In the 1960’s John founded ‘Orthotopics’, a branch of orthodontics that emphasizes proper facial growth and development through non-extraction treatment methods and muscle training.

His methods focus on correcting oral posture and guiding facial development to achieve optimal dental and facial outcomes.

He also lit the torch against orthodontics by condemning it vocally and attracting the wrath of the powers that be in dentistry.

Then Mike, his son, also became a dentist and continued to carry that torch while using newer methods.

Mike has particularly blown up on social media and Youtube. This video that he posted here has 7.3m views.

And Mike has definitely decided to lean into his social media presence with his presence on X.com with almost 12k posts.

Note that i’ve known of Mike Mew ever since early 2015 as I was doing the Starecta method and the founders of Starecta had gone to visit him in London to exchange knowledge.

Also, in 2017 i had a number of conversations with him on Facebook messenger (below is an excerpt).

So I understood quite well exactly what the Mews were doing as far back as seven years ago.. because I had read almost everything they’d published and even occasionally chatted with Mike.

What do the Mews teach?

So the Mews generally say that oral posture is the key to developing your face and skull. And are generally the key to straight teeth, healthy airways, and your health in general.

Here are some of their key tenets:

1. Correct Tongue Posture

• Rest Position: Keep the tongue pressed against the roof of the mouth, with the tip just behind the upper front teeth.

• Exercise: Regularly practice exercises to maintain this position.

2. Proper Swallowing Technique

• Mewing Swallow: Ensure that the tongue is pressed against the palate during swallowing, rather than using the cheek and lip muscles.

3. Mouth Closed

• Nasal Breathing: Keep the mouth closed and breathe through the nose to promote proper jaw alignment and facial growth.

4. Chewing Hard Foods

• Diet: Include hard, fibrous foods in the diet to stimulate jaw muscles and encourage robust facial development.

5. Good Posture

• Body Alignment: Maintain good overall body posture, including a straight back and aligned head, to support proper jaw and facial structure.

6. Orthotropic Appliances

• Myobrace: Use orthotropic appliances like Myobrace or other devices prescribed by Dr. Mew to guide facial growth and dental alignment.

My view on what they say

So out of these six key tenets there is only one that I truly agree with and that is #6, Orthotropic Appliances. Particularly the Myobrace, which is something I also recommend.

Why? Because this is the only one that abides by my two key tenets:

1- Put vertical height between your teeth

2- Do not lock an occlusion

If we look at #1-4 in their list I think these are completely useless.

Correct tongue posture and proper swallowing are a function of the correction process and not an input.

This is a myobrace

By this I mean that I wear a myobrace at night and my tongue posture and swallowing have corrected by default. On my kid as well.

Whereas if you focused on tongue posture and swallowing without using a Myobrace, you would make pretty much zero progress. I guarantee.

How do I guarantee it? Because I did it. I practiced “Mewing” and would have my kid chew hard food and tape his mouth shut for over a year back in 2015.

It did absolutely nothing!

Whereas when we used my principles, we fixed everything. On my son all i needed to do was add composite height to his back teeth and it has had massive impact.

This is what adding composite on a child’s teeth looks like

#5 Good posture

Posture is also a function of my technique and not vice versa. Meaning by using my principles people will always improve their posture.

But if you focused on improving posture without wearing something like a myobrace, you would go nowhere.

Their popularity is probably more good than bad

I think the Mews’ popularity are actually a good thing even if I don’t agree with most of what they say.

I think their heart is in the right place. And for folks that are using a Myobrace as a result of them.. i have no doubt that they are in fact getting some real results.

Whereas I am confident that if you look at most cases of people who practice “Mewing” without wearing a Myobrace-like appliance they have achieved pretty much nothing.

They take pictures of themselves from different angles and in different light and then like to post to various online groups as if some magical change has happened.

A classic Mewing ‘before and after’ post

Whereas in reality nothing at all changed. Because you do not change your face without changing your occlusion. Period.

And so I blame the Mews for the fact that there are probably tens of thousands of people engaging in this completely useless practice. And there are lots of scams that have been built around it.

I’m vehemently against some of their practices

Another thing I absolutely disagree with is the Mews’ use of the ‘biobloc’. I considered using this appliance in 2015 and now that I understand how this stuff works I am vehemently against it.

This appliance pictured above in John Mew’s video is a ‘biobloc’.

It forces expansion without any regard to the soft tissue that I talk about here:

The Mystery Piece of the Puzzle is.... Soft Tissue.

And so I am absolutely positive that using this thing will achieve nothing except moving and bending the teeth, which is highly likely to have a negative impact on the person.

And if you ask the folks that have used a biobloc a few years after the fact..I am pretty sure you will find that I am right.

Well, that’s it.. that’s a wrap!