Mew says ideal is 38mm for men judging by our early human ancestors

Are you sure you are measuring right? How do you use a digital caliper to find the furthest tip of your nose?

Hi EddieMoney,

I first marked the forwardmost tip of my nose with an ultra thin marker.  Then I put one end of the caliper at the tip of my front maxillary tooth, with the other end extending to the highest point on the marking, just as John Mew recommends, on my nose and got 41.68 milimeters.  I repeated this several times and got around this number, give or take 0.05 milimeters.

Great measurement man. Seems like maxillary positioning won't be a hard fix for you . Do you feel your intermolar needs widening?

I am currently at 37.5mm of intermolar width, so I suppose this isn't that bad, but could use some widening.

I started at 38mm and could fit my tongue on the soft palate and half of the hard palate. This eventually widened me to 45mm where my whole tongue could fit to the incisive papilla. 

So if you widen about 4mm and advance about 3mm you should be golden. 

My current mew indicator is 50mm which is garbage tier so mirin your maxilla

Posted by: EddieMoney

I started at 38mm and could fit my tongue on the soft palate and half of the hard palate. This eventually widened me to 45mm where my whole tongue could fit to the incisive papilla. 

So if you widen about 4mm and advance about 3mm you should be golden. 

My current mew indicator is 50mm which is garbage tier so mirin your maxilla

Did your mew indicator decreased and did your smile got wider?

Posted by: peterparker

Hi EddieMoney,

I first marked the forwardmost tip of my nose with an ultra thin marker.  Then I put one end of the caliper at the tip of my front maxillary tooth, with the other end extending to the highest point on the marking, just as John Mew recommends, on my nose and got 41.68 milimeters.  I repeated this several times and got around this number, give or take 0.05 milimeters.

Depending on your anatomy, the method you describe could tend to underestimate your mew indicator line. The calipers measure the distance between the two points without having the obstruction of the edge of the ruler hitting the lower border of the nose. The standardized method for measuring the Mew indicator line places the ruler tangent to wherever it encounters the nose, and then reading from whatever point on the ruler is across from the most anterior tip of the nose (even though the ruler is often not making contact with the nose at that point). For example, if I press the ruler into my nose to measure the direct distance between the most anterior point and the edge of my incisors, I get about 43mm, but if I hold the ruler tangent to my nose and then extrapolate out the line from the most anterior point (as shown in the diagram), I get about 45mm.

Hi, I am aware that pressing the measuring instrument against the nose can lead to a lower measurement, as when I first started, I made this mistake and got a measurement of 39.  But, I later found out that pressing against the nose can lead to underestimated values, so rather than pressing my nose with the caliper, I simply let it lightly touch it, just as the ruler above shows.  When I used a the ruler correctly, I got something between 41 and 42 mm.  When I used my caliper correctly , I got 41.68 mm.

Posted by: peterparker

Hi, I am aware that pressing the measuring instrument against the nose can lead to a lower measurement, as when I first started, I made this mistake and got a measurement of 39.  But, I later found out that pressing against the nose can lead to underestimated values, so rather than pressing my nose with the caliper, I simply let it lightly touch it, just as the ruler above shows.  When I used a the ruler correctly, I got something between 41 and 42 mm.  When I used my caliper correctly , I got 41.68 mm.

So maybe it doesn't matter with your anatomy, but calipers have empty space between the two points rather than the edge of the ruler which can hit the nose below the most anterior point in some people increasing the measurement. I think the most important thing is to be consistent in your method so that you can monitor your progress, but if you want to compare to other people or averages, then you should try to follow the standard methods as best you can. I find it is easier to hold the ruler in place and then take a picture rather than trying to read the measurement in a mirror.

Alright I just did as you said, and I still get between 41 and 42mm.

EddieMoney: My experience of how far my tongue would go at these measurements was different. Of course we all have differently wrong mouths. But there is never much discussion of tongue size. Presumably like any muscle it grows with work and atrophies without it. It had occurred to me that this was another reason progress as measured by the tongue feels slow. I imagine the more work I do the more space my tongue requires. I don’t want a small tongue so it fits nicely and even if I did the only way I could achieve it is by stopping this work. I do rather more than passive maintenance of posture. Still the thought consoles me in the face of perceived lack of progress. I know I have in some periods made great progress that does not manifest in any increase in intermolar width. So much of this is blind faith.