Ever heard of proper tongue positioning? Sounds irrelevant right? Well, it is… except that it has a HUGE impact on your nose, eyes, head, neck, and even your shoulders!
Believe it or not, the concept of proper oral posture, i.e. the ideal way to position your tongue, lips, jaw and teeth, is very real. There are two important reasons to maintain proper oral posture:
- Keeping your mouth closed forces you to breathe through your nose, which will benefit your body in many ways.
- For proper facial development, including straight teeth that don’t need braces.
A lot of people rest their tongues at the bottom of the mouth. Can you relate? If yes, you have an improper tongue position.
Dr. Mew formed 3 easy to remember rules to maintain good oral posture.
- Keep your lips together
- Keep your teeth together
- Keep your tongue on the roof of your mouth
Another common mistake many people make is breathing through their mouth instead of the nose. Not only can this lead to serious health problems, unknown to many, this also plays a huge role in one’s facial development. Breathing through the mouth can result in ‘melting’ chins, and an overall poor face structure. For example, below are pictures of children who used to be mouth-breathers, as well as pictures of the dramatic change proper oral posture has brought on their facial development over the course of three years. Moreover, if you never considered oral posture during your childhood, then it may affect your oral hygiene now. This could include having unaligned teeth, cavities, plaque, etc. So, it is important to remember that you could also visit a dentist clinic similar to DeFabio Dental Design for regular dental treatments, if necessary.
So how does proper oral posture result in an attractive face? The secret lies in the upper jaw bone. Through proper oral posture, the upper jaw grows outwards rather than downwards, and thus the face grows horizontally rather than vertically. This produces defined jaws and cheekbones, making the face a lot more attractive overall. On the other hand, by breathing through your mouth and thus allowing your jaw to lie hanging or not keeping your teeth together causes the face to grow vertically, resulting in an almost non-existent jaw and chin.
Note the dramatic difference in facial development after undergoing orthotropic treatment to correct the individuals’ oral posture. The maxilla visibly comes forward and the face widens, making it more attractive. According to Wolff’s Law, healthy bones adapt to the pressure that is applied to them. By keeping your tongue flat on the roof of your mouth, you put just enough pressure on your upper jaw to support it upwards and to prevent it from sinking down. Over time, the low amount of pressure gradually lifts the upper jaw and helps it grow outwards rather than downwards.
If the tongue is resting on the floor of the mouth, this pushes the face inwards and makes it long and narrow.
This also leaves less room for your teeth, which results in the crowding of teeth. In addition, if you’re a mouth breather, by constantly resting your mouth in an open position, the lower jaw hangs down and gets pushed backward. Don’t believe it? The pictures below are of the same boy, before and after he developed an allergy to his pet hamster, which blocked his nose and got him into the habit of breathing through his mouth. Notice how his face becomes narrow and his chin gets pushed back into his face, and results in an inexistent jawline.
It isn’t necessary to undergo an orthotropic treatment to fix your oral posture. Simply following the three rules can result in a significant change in facial development. Granted, the older you are, the more time you will need to see a dramatic difference. Nevertheless, correct oral posture can definitely bring about a difference in both the beauty as well as the health of an individual.
Written and Researched by Najah Bashir
