My story:

Growing up, I don’t clearly remember certain habits that led me to develop a severe overbite and all-around terrible oral posture, but I can probably attribute it to soft foods and imitating the oral habits (mouth breathing and improper chewing with the mouth open) of my dad’s, who like me has a severe overbite and a recessed facial structure. I am not blaming my parents because they did not know that correct oral posture was the basis of healthy occlusion and forward facial growth. 

When I was 12 years old, I had all 4 premolars extracted and subsequently underwent retractive orthodontics for the next 3 years. When I got my braces off, I started wearing retainers that were progressively tightened biannually four times. I should say that retainers are the greatest enemy to your palate. I remember the day I got my retainers off, my upper teeth filled my smile so that minimal darkness showed at the corners of smile. 2 years later, my upper teeth arch has narrowed so much that my smile shows expansive darkness on either side of 6 teeth. Unless your goal is to have super straight teeth, refrain from wearing artificial retainers. However, from personal experience this past year, I have found that your tongue is the best tool at maintaining healthy occlusion while expanding your palate. 

I stopped wearing my retainers this March and have since been practicing soft mewing. As of the start of this July, I have been hard mewing. I can affirmatively say that due to proper oral posture my teeth have not shifted or reverted to its past crowding condition (as my orthodontist had previously tried scaring me about). Also, as a result of proper oral posture and actively hard mewing, I believe that my palate is expanding. Here is some qualitative evidence that my palate is indeed expanding. 

• midpalatal suture split 
• growing gaps between teeth (discovered through flossing with greater ease) 
• upright eruption of 2 wisdom teeth 

Tips for mewing: 

• focus on pushing your tongue transversely against your upper palate as well as upwards
• make sure you are using your tongue to exert all pressure; do not clench your teeth 
• for people with a highly arched and narrow palate like mine: when hard mewing, I separate my molars in order to get my tongue completely up against my upper palate. I think this is okay as long as you are actively pressing against the upper palate and still breathing your nose. Otherwise, my mouth is closed with my tongue keeping a suction hold on my upper palate. 

This post is mostly for my record and to convince others that mewing can be effective (to a certain extent).

I did not take many photos throughout my mewing journey because I never anticipated sharing it with anyone. However, I did take pictures of my upper palate, one from early July and another one from today. 

Left is July 2020; Right is Aug 2020