Jaw Expansion

TLDR: modern humans chew 10-20x less than our ancestors and traditional societies, and our jaw & craniofacial development suffers as a result.

Introduction

Front face with mouth slightly open, tongue slightly sticking out Side face with mouth slightly open, tongue slightly sticking out

We’re supposed to have all thirty-two adult teeth, and they’re all supposed to fit in our mouths.

Unfortunately, soft diets and modern lifestyles have contributed to an epidemic of jaw underdevelopment and related health problems, and mainstream orthodontics can cause or make issues worse by further reducing the size of the jaws.

In the images above, I’m doing something I hardly ever do: I’m relaxing my tongue and jaw muscles and letting them find their natural positions. As you can see, there is not enough room for my tongue in my mouth and so it hangs out a bit – which is why I hardly ever do this.

My case follows a pattern of jaw underdevelopment that is common but not well recognised by the UK healthcare system, which is why I’m advocating for it while seeking treatment abroad at my own expense (£40k so far).

General solution

The solution is twofold: make the jaw bigger where necessary – via the least invasive means available – and promote breast feeding, chewing, and good oral posture to stimulate proper jaw development in the first place.

Dr Mike Mew is currently championing this cause in the UK. His videos, along with those of JawHacks and Grow Your Face, do a great job of explaining the logic and evidence behind these ideas in detail.

See Oral dysfunction as a cause of malocclusion for a very readable overview of how these issues can arise in development, and Extracting Premolar Teeth for Orthodontic Treatment: The Risks for a more in-depth discussion with case studies.

My advice

If you’re a parent, my advice is to keep cases like mine in mind whenever a dentist suggests extracting or retracting healthy adult teeth for any reason. Most orthodontists don’t treat an extraction with the weight it deserves, and will happily extract and retract teeth in a way that makes the mouth smaller than it should be.

If you’re considering expansion treatment for yourself, I’ve written a comprehensive guide based on my experience getting treatment in the US—which is where most enlightened orthodontists are—as a UK resident.

I post on r/orthotropics as /u/Big-Lawyer-3444.