A bad habit you might have: keeping your teeth in contact at rest.

[Peco]

It seems that most people get the idea that their teeth should be slightly in contact or even fully in contact at rest. Most people think that because of mewing but I frankly don't understand where Dr Mew got the idea. I'm curious if you guys know what justification he gives for that. I personally have tried looking for some studies but couldn't find any that supported his idea.

I think your teeth should only touch when swallowing or chewing. There aren't any studies saying that this is best either, but there are some showing that in patients with TMD (temporomandibular disorder, will lead to asymmetry and bloatness), tooth contact was a lot higher compared to healthy people. I will link 2 of those just so you can get an idea but there are more.

• Study 1 : https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4263305/
• Study 2 : https://www.jofph.com/articles/10.11607/jofph.21.3.03

The studies also say that it isn't necessarily just clenching that's problematic, even just light contact is enough to cause issues.

Since there are no studies that I know of showing any advantage in keeping teeth in contact and a few studies showing how that could be linked with tmj issues I think it's safe to say that the best option is to keep them apart. So to fix the habit, if you notice your teeth touching during the day bring them slightly apart. Overtime that will fix the issue.

 

[Peco]

bump

 

[Deleted member 288009]

I think your teeth should only touch when swallowing

No

 

[Peco]

No

Why not ? You think they should touch at rest or that they shouldn't even touch when swallowing ?

 

[Deleted member 288009]

Why not ?

Bad for teeth because hitting eachother

Tongue should be doing all the swallowing, you shouldnt be closing jaw

 

[caseym1527]

I have TMJ it’s brutal

 

[Peco]

I have TMJ it’s brutal

Yeah but it's pretty easy to fix most of the time. It's mostly caused by bad habits so you just gotta get rid of those. This is one of them

 

[Peco]

Bad for teeth because hitting eachother

Tongue should be doing all the swallowing, you shouldnt be closing jaw

No when swallowing your back teeth should touch. Your mandible needs to be stable so the tongue can produce enough force and pressure. You shouldn't clench obviously, just slight contact

 

[Deleted member 288009]

No when swallowing your back teeth should touch. Your mandible needs to be stable so the tongue can produce enough force and pressure. You shouldn't clench obviously, just slight contact

Near contact is enough to stabilise it lol

 

[Peco]

Near contact is enough to stabilise it lol

Not sure where you get this idea. I've never seen anyone say your teeth shouldn't touch in a proper swallow.

Any source will tell you they should

 

[Miki]

Nah bro I have to maintain the permajutt

 

[Deleted member 288009]

Not sure where you get this idea. I've never seen anyone say your teeth shouldn't touch in a proper swallow.

Any source will tell you they should

Read it in a botb guide somewhere

 

[accinr]

fixed my tmj by doing this can vouch

 

[Peco]

Nah bro I have to maintain the permajutt

Jutting is so stupid and harmful too. Stop with that retarded bullshit

 

[Miki]

Jutting is so stupid and harmful too. Stop with that retarded bullshit

I know bro

 

[Peco]

Read it in a botb guide somewhere

Are you sure ? I don't think it makes a lot of sense. Doesn't really matter too much though. Most important is that you keep them apart at rest