One Unexpected Detail Can Affect The Attractiveness Of Your Face

Did you know that we only need to look at a face for 34 milliseconds to form an impression about a person? A 2015 study published in the Annual Review of Psychology noted that humans are this quick to form an impression, so it doesn't take long for us to decide if a person is attractive or not. When it comes to the features that we're actually judging in that time, one of the most prominent is cheekbone structure; women in particular are perceived as more attractive when they have symmetrical faces and prominent cheekbones, according to a 2004 study published in Acta Psychologica.

But we've recently seen the rise of yet another facial characteristic that affects what people perceive as attractive: the jawline. The hashtag #snatchedjawline has more than 18,000 posts on Instagram and 3,500 videos on TikTok. Unsurprisingly, Allure reported in 2023 that chin implants were projected to be one of the biggest plastic surgery trends the following year. "Putting in a chin implant will elongate their jawline and make their face more heart-shaped," plastic surgeon Dr. Melissa Doft told the outlet.

The golden standard of attractive jawlines features a defined jawbone chiseling into a noticeable angular curve right under the ear. While some people are naturally blessed with this look, modern cosmetics and medicine can help others achieve it. From genius highlighting hacks that give you a glowy sculpted look to invasive surgeries, there's an array of options, and one of the most unexpected methods of chiseling up your jawline could be tongue posture. That's right — some experts have theorized that the way you place your tongue in your mouth can impact your jawline.

According to a YouTube video by orofacial myology specialist Opus Myo, the ideal tongue posture for a chiseled jawline involves the entire tongue resting flat on the palate. "Your tongue should be touching the roof of your mouth when resting," dentist Dr. Ron Baise told Healthline. "It should not be touching the bottom of your mouth. The front tip of your tongue should be about half an inch higher than your front teeth." 

It may sound like an awkward thing to do, but this is the topic du jour for #snatchedjawline seekers. In fact, practicing this tongue posture actually has a name! It's known as "mewing." As orthodontist Erin Fraundorf, DMD, MSD, told Prevention, "This technique specifically claims that pressing your tongue against the roof of your mouth will define and alter the shape of your jawline, improve facial aesthetics, and even align teeth."

If you're a newbie to mewing, there are a few basic steps to follow. First keep your mouth closed, in a relaxing position, without clenching your teeth, but ensuring that your bottom teeth are slightly behind your top teeth (jaws should not be aligned). Bring your tongue to your palate without touching your front teeth. Keep this tongue posture for at least 20 seconds before letting go. Make sure you practice this posture multiple times throughout the day until you're able to keep it for most of the day. Mewing advocates claim that this tongue posture can improve that one key part of your face that can be a game-changer to your overall attractiveness, but not all experts agree that it works.

The term "mewing" comes from orthodontist John Mew. Together with his son Michael Mew, he was the first to suggest tongue posture as a substitute to orthodontics — known as "orthotropics" — in the 1970s. Although the father was stripped of his dental license in 2019 and the son was expelled from the British Orthodontic Society in 2022, their legacy lives on.

In a YouTube video, registered dental hygienist Whitney DiFoggio explains that mewing may not be everything that social media claims it to be. She says that mewing has to be done repeatedly for months or even years before there's any noticeable difference. "Unfortunately, jawline or facial shape changes often probably won't happen at all, unless you are extremely, extremely dedicated. And even if so, still not sure. We need more clinical studies, we need to see real results," she says.

As such, she advises not believing before-and-after social media photos of mewing "results" unless, of course, those pictures are taken by orthodontic or cosmetic dentists, or are part of a clinical study. This is especially true when such viral social media photos can lead us to endless (and perhaps futile) oral exercises. Plus, according to the American Association of Orthodontists, "improperly forcing your tongue into unnatural positions" may actually lead to some adverse effects, such as misaligned teeth, which will ultimately require special treatment to correct. If your jawline is something that is really bothering you, you may want to consider the FDA-approved jawline filler Juvéderm Volux XC instead.