Possibly the dentition would expand slowly over time if the tongue were kept there.  I'd favor orthodontic treatment, as that is not a great tongue habit.

Posted by: harrykanemaxilla

naturally

Do You mean naturally with your own tongue? If so, no. There are no sutures in the mandible and no way to influence it directly with the tongue, but the dental arch can expand via alveolar bone remodeling to an extent. That won't of course, make a short mandible longer but will give some width to the arch. 

4 months later. I feel like I need to add width to the arch. Can mewing and chewing add some width through bone remodeling?

Posted by: harrykanemaxilla

4 months later. I feel like I need to add width to the arch. Can mewing and chewing add some width through bone remodeling?

Width would come from masseter development

Posted by: JeanMacDougall

Posted by: EddieMoney

Posted by: harrykanemaxilla

4 months later. I feel like I need to add width to the arch. Can mewing and chewing add some width through bone remodeling?

Width would come from masseter development

thats not widening the mandible... thats just adding muscle on top.

That is true. But keep in mind that masseter development is strongly linked to bone development in the jaw in kids. Basically, having a strong masseter that sees a lot of use on hard foods will help develop a strong, wide jaw that fits all the teeth and comes forward in children. It might possibly even give such results in teenagers.

So it might actually be possible to bring the mandible forward a few millimeters, or widen the arch and mandible bone as whole by a small amount by consistently training the masseters on hard foods or something emulating this as an adult. Best case scenario, you get bone growth, worst case scenario, you get nice masseters.

actually worst case you get tmj, hence you have to be cautious and realise you are taking a risk, if you have poor facial development, over chewing will create more problems than it solves

Posted by: @forthefuture

Posted by: JeanMacDougall

Posted by: EddieMoney

Posted by: harrykanemaxilla

4 months later. I feel like I need to add width to the arch. Can mewing and chewing add some width through bone remodeling?

Width would come from masseter development

thats not widening the mandible... thats just adding muscle on top.

 

That is true. But keep in mind that masseter development is strongly linked to bone development in the jaw in kids. Basically, having a strong masseter that sees a lot of use on hard foods will help develop a strong, wide jaw that fits all the teeth and comes forward in children. It might possibly even give such results in teenagers.

So it might actually be possible to bring the mandible forward a few millimeters, or widen the arch and mandible bone as whole by a small amount by consistently training the masseters on hard foods or something emulating this as an adult. Best case scenario, you get bone growth, worst case scenario, you get nice masseters.

I am currently 17 so I am going to get chewing and see what can happen to the mandible over the next few years.

I do have to be careful of TMJ as @mewchell says