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Buccinator atrophy

5 Posts
3 Users
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(@mendelssohn)
Posts: 6
Topic starter
 

Hello everyone,

I have some questions regarding Buccinator atrophy.

  1. How long does it take to visibly notice any difference in Buccinator size after swallowing correctly? Is there an estimation from experiences? (Someone commented on Youtube that it takes years, but I assume the user did it wrong.)
  2. Sometimes it seems that I am using the masseter muscles when I swallow this way. Is this normal? Probably because I clench my teeth.
  3. As far as I have understood the Buccinator are mostly used to hold the food between the cheeks, so why should they atrophy just by changing the swallow, when you are using them while chewing food.

I'm mostly interested in question 1. I understand that this also depends on a lot of factors including body fat. The lower you are, the faster the results. I'm around 11% body fat and I always had my tongue at the roof of my mouth. My cheeks are not very hollow, only if the light is really good. I see hollow cheeks mostly in people sub 10% body fat, but that is hard to achieve and to sustain if you do not have a great metabolism, so I really hope I could have more hollow cheeks through Buccinator atrophy.

Thank you for your answers!

 
Posted : 05/02/2019 8:46 am
(@alphaminus)
Posts: 239
 

12% body fat here. My cheeks are about as hollow as I think it's possible for them to get - I don't feel any fat or muscle there at all, just the basic flesh of my cheeks with teeth behind them. 

To be honest I think I had a hollow look before I started tongue swallowing, but since I've been doing it (maybe 2 months now?) I've seen my cheeks become much hollower, to the point where my dimples have now become long curved creases where my cheeks have "collapsed." And when I press my cheeks, all I feel is the teeth behind them. 

I think the hollow cheek look is accentuated when you have large high cheekbones like mine - the bones project forward over the tops of the cheeks, so the cheeks are shadowed in most light. So you get the gaunt hollow look at a higher body fat % than people with smaller cheekbones. 

I would just stick at it. You're still going to be using your cheek muscles for some things (like sloshing mouthwash) so maybe it takes a little time for them to atrophy noticeably. 

 
Posted : 05/02/2019 6:37 pm
(@mendelssohn)
Posts: 6
Topic starter
 
Posted by: AlphaMinus

12% body fat here. My cheeks are about as hollow as I think it's possible for them to get - I don't feel any fat or muscle there at all, just the basic flesh of my cheeks with teeth behind them. 

To be honest I think I had a hollow look before I started tongue swallowing, but since I've been doing it (maybe 2 months now?) I've seen my cheeks become much hollower, to the point where my dimples have now become long curved creases where my cheeks have "collapsed." And when I press my cheeks, all I feel is the teeth behind them. 

I think the hollow cheek look is accentuated when you have large high cheekbones like mine - the bones project forward over the tops of the cheeks, so the cheeks are shadowed in most light. So you get the gaunt hollow look at a higher body fat % than people with smaller cheekbones. 

I would just stick at it. You're still going to be using your cheek muscles for some things (like sloshing mouthwash) so maybe it takes a little time for them to atrophy noticeably. 

Thank you for your response. So you already were at that body fat level before you started swallowing correctly, right? And have you already noticed some changes after 2 weeks or maybe 1 month? If this was the case, then this would be a great indicator for people to know whether they are doing the swallow correctly or not. 2 months seems quite long for people to check if they did it right or not.

 
Posted : 08/02/2019 6:33 am
(@alphaminus)
Posts: 239
 
Posted by: Mendelssohn

 

Thank you for your response. So you already were at that body fat level before you started swallowing correctly, right? And have you already noticed some changes after 2 weeks or maybe 1 month? If this was the case, then this would be a great indicator for people to know whether they are doing the swallow correctly or not. 2 months seems quite long for people to check if they did it right or not.

I think I noticed a change in about a month or maybe a little longer. Yeah I was already at 12% bodyfat. To be honest I think you can't really avoid the need to get the technique right as much as possible from the start. Otherwise, like you say, you're going to be at it for months or even years experimenting with different techniques. 

In my case the change was made more noticeable because my mouth area sticks forward (kind of like a chimp) and so when the cheeks collapsed even just a little, the difference between them and my mouth area looked more pronounced. 

 
Posted : 08/02/2019 7:57 pm
(@farrusco)
Posts: 5
 

So correct swallowing is a game chancer when it comes to the buccinator? Also do you do chin tucks?

 
Posted : 18/10/2022 5:32 pm
Whole Body Breathing