Hello everyone! I've been an observer here for a while. I'd just like to say I am very grateful for this site. After discovering the topic of oral posture, the only sources of information I could find were.. those toxic sites I'm sure you know of. I absolutely love that this community here is very welcoming and positive!

I'd like to ask everyone on here who is "mewing" (practicing proper oral posture) to analyze their swallowing pattern. When you swallow, do your back teeth clench evenly?

I find this the only way I can swallow without engaging any other facial muscles. I take my molars automatically clenching as a sign I am doing this correctly. If I swallow, and my teeth don't clench, one of two things has happened. Either I incorrectly recruited my buccinators to assist, or I only partially swallowed. By partially, I mean the swallow was very weak and incomplete causing me to choke on my saliva sometimes.

My practice to ensure that my swallowing is correct is the following: 

1. Take a small sip of water into your mouth and hold it there. 
2. Lean forwards, mouth/face directly pointing towards the floor.
3. Cheesy Smile. Align your molars as if ready to bite something, but do NOT clench. Smile showing as many teeth as you can. In order to prevent the water from spilling, you'll find that your tongue will raise to your palate at the front, sides, and to prevent you from choking, it will also rise at the back. You will have created the perfect seal using only your palate and tongue. If your tongue attempts to seal against the teeth, the water will spill.
4. Swallow. Still holding the Cheesy Smile described above, swallow. Do not attempt to bring the lips together as this may break your "seal" and cause you to swallow improperly (for those of us that exhibit tongue thrust.. that means our buccinators, mentalis muscle, and lips will take over to produce the seal). We don't want to encourage this incorrect pattern.

If you have done this correctly, you'll find that the tongue is the initiator of the swallow. Specifically the mid-front of the tongue. (In my case, the very tip of my tongue is relaxed pointing downward, NOT forward against any teeth.) As your tongue pushes the liquid towards the back of your throat, you'll have experienced a rolling backwards motion.

You should practice the steps and complete the swallow a few more times. Notice that before you feel the swallow in your throat, your tongue has pushed all the liquid towards your throat, your back teeth have clenched for a second and then unclenched. Good.

Repeat this process a few more times, and now take notice of the position of your tongue during that second when your teeth clench. The mid-back of your tongue will have pushed firmly against your palate. When your tongue exerts this force, the opposing muscles will activate allowing you to push even harder. That opposing group is the masseter muscles. They activate when you clench your back teeth.

Lastly, replicate this swallow standing upright, with lips together gently, and a neutral facial expression. Do not recruit any facial muscles to assist the swallow.

All that being said, you don't ever want to purposely clench your teeth at any point. This clench should happen naturally as a result of your tongue (mid-back of it) exerting it's force against the palate.

Proper oral posture at REST is the balance between your tongue and your jaw. Your tongue, specifically the middle and back, firmly (not forcefully) pushing up against the palate, and your masseters firmly (not forcefully) counteracting the tongue. If your tongue is weaker than your jaw, bruxism is likely to result. If your tongue is stronger than your jaw, that will leave it swung open. We all know that isn't right either. Relax both forces until they are equal and your teeth are resting VERY gently in contact.

My apologies for the lengthiness of this post. I have struggled to find detailed explanations, therefore I try to put as much detail about my method of practice as possible. I would LOVE to hear any thoughts or ideas you may have. Also, I am willing to answer any questions about this to the best of my ability.