Posted by: Apollo

I think there is bone remodeling going on that increases the length of the ramus, beyond just changing the position or angle of the mandible. For example, individuals with sleep bruxism often exhibit pronounced rami. A case is described on claimingpower.com of a young woman with a very square jaw who had bruxism since childhood to the point that she needed veneers for her teeth.

 

Here are some of her CT scans showing her sharp gonial angle:

 

Even in cases of bruxism that develop during adulthood, it is common to find changes in the mandible. In this case, an x-ray shows calcified ligaments and changes to the gonial angle that results from adult bruxism. 

So in the case of Mewing and chewing, we are strengthening the masseter muscles that attach to the ramus. For example, people at risk of osteoporosis are encouraged to use weight bearing exercises to enhance their bone density. I suspect the same process is going on here: masseter hypertrophy induces calcium deposition/bone growth around its attachment point in the masseter.

As with literally everything genetics are the primary determinant of ‘potential’, and then you have remodeling of the ramus under extreme and ‘unnatural’ environmental circumstances such as with mouthbreathing (very low physical stress on bone) or bruxism (very high mechanical stress on bone). In both cases it is simply Wolff’s law i.e. bone adapting to accomodate various physical loads. Neither of the outcomes is aesthetic and results in ugly, unproportional faces.

@ben if by stunning you mean her head looks like a cinderblock then yeah. lol. That does NOT look good at all, almost comical.

Posted by: varbrah

@ben if by stunning you mean her head looks like a cinderblock then yeah. lol. That does NOT look good at all, almost comical.

I think she is quite pretty. Although I'm not sure if this is because of her square jaw or despite it. There are more images of her if you follow the link to the primary source.

@Apollo despite it and because of angles imo. Have any head on pictures or are all from like a 3/4th angle? 

Posted by: varbrah

@Apollo despite it and because of angles imo. Have any head on pictures or are all from like a 3/4th angle? 

There's a profile shot, and a few more but they are all about 3/4 angle.

Yeah.. she’d look much better without the huge jaw, she has some nice features otherwise but no facial contour or anything, leading to a bloated look. I suspect that’s part of why most of her photos are from a 3/4ths view — straight on headshots don’t look flattering at all for bruxists.