Posted by: gubb

I've noticed  Mike Mew has talked about mewing giving you more defined cheekbones but i dont understand how that happens. If I'm constantly using all the muscles on my face by mewing and chewing gum then how would my cheeks sink in?

By pushing the zygomatic bones (highlighted green) further up, forward, and outward. These bones are to the immediate left and right of the maxilla, and looking at a 3D model of the skull it's plain to see that any forward/upward movement of the maxilla would cause the zygomatic/cheek bones to push out more prominently.

In addition, hollow cheeks are a direct result of the buccinator atrophying back to their proper size from lack of use. With proper tongue posture and swallowing, this muscle is almost never used - but with improper posture and swallowing it gets over used and people get pudgy cheeks

@admin

do you think CMC activates the buccinator too much?

Posted by: krollic

 

@admin

do you think CMC activates the buccinator too much?

 

Closed mouth chewing? It shouldn't, the buccinator is used for a sucking-in motion, and is only used to keep whatever is being chewed in range of the teeth to chew. 

You've got an edit under your comment because I accidentally edited your comment with a response instead of quoting it  😝 

Admin abuse!

I originally thought it was utilized when doing CMC  🤔 Thanks for clearing that up  

Posted by: krollic

Admin abuse!

I originally thought it was utilized when doing CMC  🤔 Thanks for clearing that up  

So that means we are allowed to CMC?

Verdict is out on OMC. I have personally closed mouth chewed during most of my time mewing and my buccinators have atrophied anyway. My lips also have lost their pout. My lips are more concave thus less duck like and to be honest I never really focused on open mouth chewing. 

Your lips realistically have no reason to hypertrophy through keeping them closed. In fact, in people with bimax (whose lips project more than average due to teeth tipping), the lips are actually weak and cannot keep a strong lip seal that prevents teeth from tipping thus strengthening your lips actually may assist your journey because it prevents your teeth from tipping due to a strong lip muscle tone. 

Plus I know people with OMC habits do it out of wanting shorter philtrums. The philtrum would theoretically shorten and the upper lip would pout more to accompany this BUT do not quote me on that.

Cliffs: OMC may not be a miracle habit. But then again some people may overuse their lip so who knows. 

yea i agree whenever someone makes an OMC thread i feel obligated to mention that this isn't anything mike mew recommends and its something that was born in this forum