InChristAlone
Member
I have been trying to keep my tongue on the roof of my mouth and I tape my mouth shut at night for the last 2 yrs and for the last year or so I began having tooth sensitivity in my front teeth and TMJ issues on the right side. I have now realized I may have inadvertently caused this by applying too much force on my teeth. I found this thread on another website that explains how to properly "Mew":
My palate must be too narrow because I really struggle to get the back of my tongue up there and from years of mouth breathing at night and some during the day my tongue doesn't even rest up there comfortably. It's very discouraging! And I even have all 4 of my wisdom teeth mostly in, I can't imagine how difficult it is for people who didn't have room for their wisdom teeth to comfortable get their tongue on the palate.
A few weeks ago I was talking to my friends (of which I've convinced to uptake proper oral posture). I've been keeping tabs on their progress and offering my guidance since I'm a lot more obsessed and familiar with the topic of mewing than they are. There are 6 of them, half online and half irl and their time spent mewing ranges from a couple of weeks to nearly half a year with an average Inter Molar Width of around 34-35mm or so. Lows were 32ish and highs were 39.
In that time not a single one of them has had their IMW increase. Some of them were getting frustrated (fairly so) and I was getting scared that they were going to give up. I had to investigate. After quite some time and testing and evaluating various oral positions and strategies it turns out that all of them did not have proper tongue posture despite thinking that they did. They had their tongues properly connecting with the tip and mid area of the palate and even some of the tongue near the back but it was NOT enough. Not even close!
It is critical that the back of your tongue (as far back as you can go) is firmly pressed against the back palate and around your back molars. If you have a small IMW like these guys and you are NOT struggling to achieve this state then it is likely you are doing it INCORRECTLY because it is hard to do and tiring when you first start doing it. You need the back of your tongue to be in a ∩ shape and in complete contact with your molars/wisdom teeth and all the palate that separates them. When you are doing this properly, this tight fit and tongue contortion is very hard to maintain and it feels like it's gonna fail any second. (At least for the beginning until you get used to it)
Assume a flawless mckenzie chin tuck position and do a proper tongue swallow or the cheesy grin technique so you can feel the very back of your tongue hit your back palate momentarily. THAT is what you need. Keep attempting to achieve this until you can do it constantly. If you find this sensation goes away too readily make sure you are not pushing too hard upwards on the tip or mid palate with you tongue because this force can push the back of your tongue downwards, away from your rear palate.
You see that tiny black arrow indicating the tongue entirely plastered on the back palate? THAT IS THE KEY. I'd rather you completely forget and not bother with mid/front tongue positioning until you can master this because it is very foundation of palate expansion and maxilla development. You should be hitting the back of your mouth as far back as the wisdom teeth if you can help it.
Since I told my mates what they were doing wrong and how to fix it 2 weeks ago, 3 of them are unable achieve this proper posture at all (IMW/palate too small), 1 really struggles with it and can do it some of the time and 2 can do it most of the time (they have the largest IMW's at around 39). In this last fortnight these latter 2 have increased their IMW by AT LEAST 1mm, maybe 1.5mm at most and they've confirmed this. One of them is irl and I checked and confirmed this progress for him. It isn't much but it is entirely noticeable and accredited purely to fixing their posture and doing this [Rude Language or Insults are not tolerated] PROPERLY. They've mentioned that it's becoming easier to hold this position as their IMW/palate expands.
<Important note; modern adults (or anyone over the age of 9) tend to have a molar width of 29 to 34mm. Anyone with 35 to 38mm will find it much easier but still very hard to make progressive improvements without any formal therapy, and as a rule of thumb when I finish therapy any one who can maintain 38mm or more without retainers tends to maintain good alignment almost indefinitely, with a minimal effort. During childrens treatment expand to 42mm for a girl and 44mm for a boy, clearly some of this is tipping of the molars. Ancient man had an inter-molar width in the high 40's to low 50's.>
A quote from Dr Mew that I remembered that happens to fall very much in line with the experience we all had. Wise man! Mewing is a tough [Rude Language or Insults are not tolerated] but you gotta do it properly or you will not reap the rewards.
I hope I've convinced you to at least reassess your mewing game and make sure you are doing it right. As for you guys who can't achieve this proper oral posture no matter how hard you try, I think a mechanical palate expander might be necessary until it can be maintained naturally or perhaps expanding your palette with thumb-pulling.
My palate must be too narrow because I really struggle to get the back of my tongue up there and from years of mouth breathing at night and some during the day my tongue doesn't even rest up there comfortably. It's very discouraging! And I even have all 4 of my wisdom teeth mostly in, I can't imagine how difficult it is for people who didn't have room for their wisdom teeth to comfortable get their tongue on the palate.