I personally don't think this is important and have yet to see any evidence why it would be. Mouth closed? Important. Tongue on palate and spread out? Same. Teeth together? I don't see the reasoning behind this. 

@eddiemoney

I think Mike Mew said it was bad for the incisors to be contact with each other.

Mike Mew would say you should be chewing during the day to raise the resting muscle tone of the masseters, so they dont relax too much and let your jaw drop down. 

Posted by: @oatmeal

@eddiemoney

I think Mike Mew said it was bad for the incisors to be contact with each other.

I don't believe in any resting tooth contact. 

@eddiemoney

agreed honestly. it feels a lot more natural for me to set the teeth slightly apart.

I'm on the side of keeping teeth slightly apart, I used to keep teeth in contact and I even manged to be able to fall asleep with teeth in contact, that's really the key, before you fall asleep your teeth lose contact, of course you don't remember this though. When I managed to keep tooth contact when falling asleep, when I woke up I was clenching and my teeth were sore. It's very easy to start clenching when you're asleep if your teeth are in contact, imo this just shows the natural resting state is not with teeth in contact. Especially given that 95% of people have some sort of malocclusion, trying to keep teeth in contact if your bite is wrong is a bad idea.

@printfactory

Resting tone is more to do with habit than musculature, to keep your mouth closed requires little to no effort of the jaw muscles.

Everyone's case is different.  Teeth in contact has been a game changer for me in terms of my head posture.  When my molars are touching, my head posture becomes automatic.  Feels extremely natural.

I have also started to pull off teeth touching in sleep.  OP, the answer is to retrain your subconscious.  The best thing you can do is go on as many 1-mile long walks as you can with your teeth touching.  That will reprogram your subconscious quickly.

@eddiemoney

Do you see any disadvantages to teeth contact? I am concerned simply since it is an easy way to ensure that my mouth is closed. Also, if one is looking for facial shortening, and since chewing may help with that process, couldn’t teeth contact possibly be in that cause favour?

Best wishes, Happy Christmas

@drunkwithcoffee

So you mean you have stopped to have your teeth in contact during sleep? Is so, why? Also, why would walks specifically be effective to reprogram the subconscious?

Best wishes, Happy Christmas

@Loliboly no I mean I have it in contact all the time, even when sleeping.  As for walks, it's hard to explain, but go for a 1 mile walk every day this week and you'll see what I mean.  There's a powerful meditative effect of walking that makes it easy to reprogram your subconscious.

Posted by: @loliboly

@eddiemoney

Do you see any disadvantages to teeth contact? I am concerned simply since it is an easy way to ensure that my mouth is closed. Also, if one is looking for facial shortening, and since chewing may help with that process, couldn’t teeth contact possibly be in that cause favour?

Best wishes, Happy Christmas

What type of facial shortening? Because you may want to shorten your midface and tooth contact won't change that. Is your lower third too long on the other hand?

I advise against teeth together simply because most people have a malocclusion which means forces aren't delivered efficiently to the jaws when someone touches teeth. You keep reinforcing a bad habit in other words.

The other part about it is that many people new to mewing have bad technique and teeth in contact doesn't allow them to balloon their tongue on their palate. It just leads to more "pushing up as hard as you can on your palate" which in reality does nothing. 

@eddiemoney

When I mew with my teeth apart I feel much greater pressure on my maxilla for whatever reason. Which is good

@eddiemoney

My lower third is pretty okay for modern western standards, but it could still be shorter. Btw, I am sure that I am not over clenching and just keeping the so called "butterfly contact".
Just to clarify: Even though you don't recommend this, are you saying that if one wants to shorten ones lower third, it could be beneficial to keep teeth(lightly) in contact? Provided you have good oral posture? Or are there more effective ways to achieve this, in your opinion?

Posted by: @loliboly

@eddiemoney

My lower third is pretty okay for modern western standards, but it could still be shorter. Btw, I am sure that I am not over clenching and just keeping the so called "butterfly contact".
Just to clarify: Even though you don't recommend this, are you saying that if one wants to shorten ones lower third, it could be beneficial to keep teeth(lightly) in contact? Provided you have good oral posture? Or are there more effective ways to achieve this, in your opinion?

I didn't know Western standards existed for lower thirds. I will say people who clench teeth have weaker lower thirds usually. But it may damage your teeth. 

@eddiemoney

Teeth together makes it easier to hold oral vacuum. 

Posted by: @j3tze

@eddiemoney

Teeth together makes it easier to hold oral vacuum. 

This is exactly my case. I can't "balloon" my tongue without having my teeth touch. I lose the suction hold when my teeth are ajar. As has been said before, it likely depends on the individual case.

Well one thing im certain, teeth in contact is extremely important when you are trying to protract your maxilla with mse+ facemask , otherwise you might get an open bite. Its exactly what happened to the monkeys on that study, their maxilla actually moved forwards but they got an open bite because their jaws werent shut.

Posted by: @mewed

Well one thing im certain, teeth in contact is extremely important when you are trying to protract your maxilla with mse+ facemask , otherwise you might get an open bite. Its exactly what happened to the monkeys on that study, their maxilla actually moved forwards but they got an open bite because their jaws werent shut.

That may be true, but my point was that we shouldn't be hardline about the issue of teeth together vs teeth slightly apart. @EddieMoney says that having his teeth slightly apart works for him; and I believe that. But, it doesn't work for me, because I struggle to maintain anything close to a decent posture with my teeth apart (even if only by a little bit).  Before I got interested in mewing, I had my mouth open at all times, because I was a mouth-breather. Learning to keep my mouth fully closed, with teeth together has improved my breathing, and I no longer wake up with clogged sinuses in the morning. Again, my point is that while keeping teeth slightly apart may work for many, it won't work for everyone. It makes sense, considering that not everybody here has the same level of CFD, or even the same type of malocclusion. We ought to be more aware of these differences, is all that I'm saying.