I see it often in my practice.
A patient sits in my chair, phone in hand, scrolling through TikTok. The video is always similar. A flawless jawline. A confident voice. A promise that one simple habit, tongue pressed to the roof of the mouth, can change your face, improve breathing, and fix problems most people never knew they had.
Then comes the question.
“Is this real?”
As a clinician who works with airway health, facial development, and whole-body dentistry, I understand why people are captivated. In fact, in my book SMILE: It’s All Connected, I write about this exact instinct. People sense that the mouth matters more than they have been told. They are right.
But TikTok influencers? They are telling only part of the story. And in healthcare, partial truths can be dangerous.
How Mewing Became a Viral Shortcut
Mewing is named after Dr. John Mew, whose work in orthotropics focused on guiding facial growth in children through proper oral posture and nasal breathing.
That original context matters.
Orthotropics was never designed as a cosmetic trend or a self-guided exercise for adults. It was a developmental philosophy rooted in growth, timing, and airway function.
Social media flattened that complexity.
What was once a nuanced, supervised approach became a viral shortcut. Tongue up. Lips closed. Nose breathing. Do it long enough and your face will transform. Maybe?
That message spreads because it feels intuitive. However, intuition without biology quickly turns into misinformation.
What TikTok Gets Fundamentally Wrong
Tongue posture matters. Breathing matters. Facial development matters deeply.
I say that clearly in SMILE: It’s All Connected. Structure follows function, but only when the body is capable of change.
Here is the part TikTok misses.
Children and adults are not biologically the same.
In children, facial bones are still developing. Growth plates remain responsive. That is why early intervention, when done properly, can influence jaw development, airway size, and facial balance.
In adults, those growth plates have had a lifelong opportunity to develop incorrectly. “As the wind blows, the tree grows”. Tongue posture alone, though a huge component, cannot meaningfully reshape bone only. Anyone claiming otherwise misunderstands basic physiology.
That does not mean posture is useless. It means its role changes.
In adults, proper tongue posture supports muscular balance, airway stability, and nervous system regulation. However, in an adult by itself, it probably will not sculpt jawlines or reverse decades of growth patterns.
The Airway Is the Missing Piece
If there is one thing TikTok rarely discusses, it is the airway.
In my clinical work and throughout my writing, I emphasize that breathing is foundational. Mouth breathing is usually a resulting habit and often a sign of airway restriction, inflammation, or nervous system imbalance.
Chronic mouth breathing has been linked to poor sleep, altered facial growth, narrowed dental arches, and increased stress responses. These connections are not speculative. They are well documented.
The viral Mewing videos by viewers and influencers focus on appearance. Clinicians focus on health via function, structure and balance.
That difference changes everything.
Why Orthodontists Push Back
Online narratives often suggest orthodontists feel threatened by mewing. The truth is far less dramatic and far more responsible.
Most professionals are not rejecting airway awareness. They are rejecting blanket advice delivered without diagnosis.
In SMILE: It’s All Connected, I repeatedly stress that symptoms do not exist in isolation. A tongue posture issue may be caused by a tongue tie. Mouth breathing may stem from allergies, nasal obstruction and/or poor diets. Jaw tension may reflect nervous system overload rather than posture alone.
Correcting a symptom without addressing the root cause can make things worse.
I have treated patients who aggressively forced tongue posture after watching videos and ended up with jaw pain, headaches, or bite instability. Good intentions do not replace proper evaluation.
Why Parents Are Right to Be Concerned
Parents often notice the signs first.
Bed wetting. Snoring. Open-mouth posture. Restless sleep. Behavioral changes such as mis-diagnosed AD/HD. Difficulty focusing.
Many feel dismissed when they raise these concerns. Social media validates what they already sense. Something is not right.
That instinct is worth honoring. However, awareness should lead to assessment, not experimentation.
What the Science Actually Supports
Here is where evidence and experience align.
Nasal breathing supports Nitric oxide fabrication, oxygen delivery and nervous system balance. Proper tongue posture helps stabilize the airway. Early intervention during growth can influence facial development and long-term health.
But these outcomes come from individualized care, not viral trends.
Myofunctional therapy, airway-focused dentistry, orthopedics/ orthodontics, and medical collaboration each play a role. No single exercise replaces a comprehensive approach.
What I Tell My Patients Instead
When patients ask me about mewing, I do not dismiss them. I ask better questions.
What attracted you to this concept? Why? What are you aiming to achieve?
How do you sleep?
Do you wake rested or exhausted?
Can you breathe comfortably through your nose?
Is there jaw joint noise, jaw tension, clenching, or pain?
From there, we evaluate the entire system. Structure. Function. Breathing. Nervous system health.
Sometimes posture exercises help. Sometimes airway intervention is needed. Sometimes we begin by calming the nervous system before addressing structure.
The answer is never viral. It is always personal, always customized.
The Bigger Picture
Mewing did not go viral because it is entirely right or wrong. It went viral because it touched a truth many people feel in their bodies.
The mouth matters. Each person is to be seen as a WHOLE entity!
As I wrote in SMILE: It’s All Connected, the mouth is not separate from the body. Breathing, posture, sleep, focus, and emotional regulation form an integrated system.
Reducing that system to a trending exercise does not empower people. It misleads them.
We are grateful that TikTok did spark worldwide curiosity, but it cannot replace expertise.
It is time to fan the flame! When it comes to your airway, your sleep, and your lifelong health, you deserve more than a soundbite. You deserve the full picture with doctors who can connect ALL the parts that make you healthy, balanced AND WHOLE!
