The Science Behind Changing Your Face
Changing your facial structure isn’t magic—it’s biology.
Your bones are not static. They’re dynamic, living tissue that constantly remodels based on the forces applied to them. This is the principle behind orthotropics, the science that shows how correct muscle posture drives healthy bone growth.
A Brief History.
In the 1970s, Dr. John Mew challenged the belief that facial growth was purely genetic. Observing his father’s expansion cases from the 1920s, he noticed that some jaws continued to widen even after treatment ended. This contradicted the idea that bone changes would always relapse and sparked decades of research into what really drives facial development.
Through years of observation, Mew discovered that modern faces were growing narrower and more recessed compared to those of our ancestors. Crooked teeth—once rare—had become common only in the last 200 years. Evolution doesn’t act this quickly, so the cause had to be environmental.
His breakthrough came when he realized that oral posture—how we hold our lips, tongue, and teeth—controls the direction of facial growth. Children who kept their mouths closed, teeth lightly together, and tongues against the palate (the Tropic Premise) developed strong, forward-grown faces with wide jaws and open airways. Those with open-mouth posture, soft diets, or poor swallowing patterns grew faces that were longer, narrower, and less attractive.
Orthotropics unified these findings into one principle:
Guiding muscle posture guides bone growth.
While John Mew’s work with the Biobloc proved that facial growth could be guided, his son Dr. Mike Mew recognized that ideally, devices should not be required at all—if correct oral posture was taught and maintained naturally. However, firmly establishing this habit remained the greatest challenge, as most people struggled to keep their tongues on the palate and lips sealed consistently.
Mike embarked on his own journey to help individuals achieve this posture effortlessly, without relying on appliances. He explored how body posture influences facial posture, integrating the Tropic Premise with myofunctional therapy, physiotherapy, and even vocal training to create a comprehensive method for natural facial improvement.
This modern approach quickly spread online, and the public coined it “mewing”—a term now recognized worldwide as the practice of using posture to remodel the face.
How Muscle Posture Shapes Bone
Muscles apply forces to bone
Fascia transmits and distributes these forces
Bone remodels in response
When it’s disturbed—due to mouth breathing, tight fascia, or weak posture—the face collapses downward and backward, resulting in weaker features, recessed jaws, and breathing problems.
Evidence That Muscle Forces Change Bone
Further research confirms that bone is not static—it responds to light, consistent forces:
People with strokes or muscular dystrophy develop altered bone structures because their muscle activity changes.
Botox, which paralyzes facial muscles, leads to bone loss in the treated areas.
Exercise increases bone density and size, showing that bones adapt to mechanical loading.
Why Breathing Matters
You can’t begin to mew properly if you can’t breathe through your nose.
Nose breathing is what allows the tongue to stay on the palate and guide the face forward. When nasal passages are blocked, people default to mouth breathing, which collapses the posture and drives the face downward.
Forward-grown faces have wide airways, efficient nose breathing, and lower risk of sleep disorders.
Downward-grown faces often rely on mouth breathing and suffer from issues like sleep apnea, which increases all-cause mortality by four times.
Sleep Disorder Breathing Study (2008) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2542952/
How Body Posture Shapes the Face
Your body is not made of 600 isolated muscles—it’s one continuous muscle network wrapped in 600 fascia pockets. Every movement you make, even with your arm, slightly tugs on muscles across the body through fascia connections. This means the posture of your spine, hips, and feet directly influences your head and facial posture.
Forward head posture, duck feet, and anterior pelvic tilt shift the entire fascia system out of balance. This makes you want to mouth breathe, collapsing the face downward.
Hunching forward compresses your chest cavity, reducing lung capacity by up to 30%, which further promotes mouth breathing and poor oxygenation.
To grow a healthy, attractive face, you need a straight, aligned posture with loose, flexible fascia. This allows forces from the tongue to act correctly on the bones, promoting forward facial growth.
How Diet Shapes The Face
Nutrition drives the hormones and cellular processes that determine how your face develops, ages, and maintains vitality. The three most critical hormonal systems influencing facial appearance are testosterone, progesterone, and the thyroid.
Testosterone & Progesterone: The Hormones of Dimorphism
Testosterone enhances bone density, jawline definition, and muscle mass, creating masculine facial traits.
Progesterone balances estrogen in women, promoting skin elasticity, facial symmetry, and a youthful appearance.
The Thyroid: The Hidden Driver of Facial Vitality
Thyroid health controls metabolism, energy production, and the rate of cellular repair.
Low thyroid function visibly affects the face:
Thinning or coarse hair
Puffy cheeks and water retention
Tired, drooping eyes with dark circles
Thinning or coarse hair
These features combine into what’s often called the “low thyroid face.” Before trying cosmetic fixes like transplants or fillers, supporting your thyroid can transform both how you look and feel.
The Paleo Diet: Supporting Hormonal Balance Naturally
Modern diets full of processed foods and toxins disrupt these hormones. A paleo-style diet—high in nutrients, healthy fats, and quality proteins while avoiding toxins—supports testosterone, progesterone, and thyroid function naturally.
Eating this way optimizes the internal environment for:
Strong bone density
Clear, elastic skin
Balanced weight and energy
Forward-grown, healthy facial structure
Posture → Fascia → Muscles → Bone Change
Oscar’s approach restores this chain:
Posture
Posture is corrected so forces align properly.
Fascia
Fascia is released with thumbpulling, removing internal restrictions.
Muscles
Muscles (especially the tongue) are retrained to apply forces in the right direction.
Bone
Bone adapts naturally—improving both looks and breathing.
Thumbpulling:
Unlocking Facial Mobility
While correct tongue posture is the main driver of facial growth, many people’s results are limited by tight fascia and restricted cranial sutures. Thumbpulling, a concept explained by David Dinant, addresses this limitation directly.
Loosening the fascia in the palate
Decompressing sutures to restore cranial movement
Making the maxilla more responsive to tongue forces
It works similarly to NCR or cranial sacral therapy but uses your own thumbs, combined with a strict chin tuck posture, to safely realign tension patterns.
When the fascia is free, the tongue can fully exert its force, creating a perfect storm for facial remodeling.
Ready to Learn the Techniques?
The science is clear: your face is adaptable.
Oscar’s system shows you how to apply these techniques safely and effectively for real transformation. Looks = Health!