Summary

Dr Mike Mew spoke about various topics that many people might not understand without prior knowledge of orthotropics. Therefore we have provided summary notes with explanations below.

Muscle usage

When Mike mentions muscle usage he is talking about the amount of work the jaw muscles have to do and the amount of force that they are asked to express.

By chewing soft foods such as mashed potato or boiled rice, our jaw muscles are getting very little usage which leads to the first facial weakness.

Tongue posture

Mike Mew is referring to where your tongue sits in the mouth. Many do not realise how much strength the tongue has or how large it is.

Your tongue should sit on the roof of your mouth spreading out across the palette between your teeth. This creates more space which leads to better oral posture. Many who do not have good tongue posture have fallen victim to teeth crowding as their tongues are not there to support the face.

It’s important to remember that your tongue goes back pretty far. Mike Mew encourages people to keep the posterior third (The back part of the tongue) on the roof of the mouth also as it’s more important than the front.

Abs walk

The abs walk is what it says on the tin. Mike Mew encourages people to walk upright letting their abs work to their full capacity. In the modern era we are constantly slouched over or led back in lazy positions which doesn’t help. Add to this the fact that barely anyone walks anymore and we have an issue with body posture.

Tongue chewing

Tongue chewing is a technique developed by Mike Mew where he encourages people to take a piece of normal gum, roll it up into a little ball and then force it with their tongue against the roof of their mouths over and over again.

The aim of this exercise is to push the maxilla bone upwards and forwards.

Maxilla and jawbone

The maxilla bone is the main bone that makes up the centre of your face. It connects to the teeth, the cheekbones, the forehead and the nose bone. It makes sense that the positioning of this bone improves the overall appearance of ones face.

As Mike Mew mentioned, the jaw or mandible is slave to the maxilla bone. If your tongue positioning is good, your maxilla bone will move upwards and forwards. As the maxilla moves forwards the jawbone follows and meets it like a door hinge.

In short if you are wondering how to get a better jawline, then driving your maxilla upwards and forwards is the best way to do this, forget all of the videos on YouTube that talk about jaw exercises they’re a waste of time.

Swallowing technique and suckling

If you’re wondering how to get hollow cheeks then you need to consider your swallowing technique. Most people will use a suckling technique that we all used as babies.

This activates the buccinator muscle which is responsible for giving the appearance of either hollow cheeks or puffy cheeks.

If you look at most Asian people, you’ll find that they have rounder faces. This has been created from their diets. A lot of their food involves sucking and little chewing which will naturally increase the size of the buccinator muscle in order to make that job easier in the future.

How to get rid of a double chin

The dreaded double chin is something that nobody wants, the appearance can make someone especially men look weak.

Mike Mew talks about multiple factors being responsible for having a weak chin.

1. Weak jaw muscles

2. Open mouth posture

3. Downward head position from using technology far too often

4. Backwards positioned maxilla bone

If you want to get rid of a double chin, then you need to improve your tongue positioning so that it’s on the roof of your mouth. You need to eat tougher foods and you need to stop looking downwards at technology on an hourly basis.

Mike Mew encourages people to also keep their mouths closed, however this should happen naturally as the tongue and jaw muscles strengthen.

How to get higher cheekbones

Having model cheekbone comes from one thing, keeping your tongue on the roof of the mouth so that your maxilla bone can move upwards and push your cheekbones higher.

It also helps if your tongue is spread out on the roof of your mouth as it creates a wider face from increased space between your teeth. By doing this your cheekbones will appear not only higher but wider too which is what models and supermodels have.