TikTok has brought some strange trends to the world. Cooking Chicken with Nyquil To Stepping on a pyramid of milk cartonsCurrently, a new trend is gaining popularity on social media platforms among young men wanting to achieve a chiseled jawline.
Several companies, including Stronger Gum, Jaws, and Lockjaw, have launched so-called “facial gum” chewing gum products that they are aggressively promoting on TikTok. The companies selling the facial gum claim that their products make jaw muscles stronger and firmer, improving the appearance of the jaw.
“Strong jaw muscles are not only good for the appearance of your face, they’re also essential for your health,” states the Stronger Gum website. “Strong jaw muscles promote proper oral posture, including a closed mouth, aligned teeth, a secure tongue against the roof of the mouth, and a stable head position. Proper oral posture has many important benefits, including providing up to 20% more oxygen to the body through nose breathing.”
Prices for the gum products range from $2 for a pack of 10 to $90 for a pack of six. Both companies sell a special gum called mastic, a resin that is harder to chew than regular gum. The texture allows people to chew for longer periods of time, from 30 minutes to two hours, the companies say, exercising their jaw muscles.
In an email to CBS MoneyWatch, Lockjaw founder Sachin Patel said there is evidence that mastic gum can help sculpt jawlines, citing a 2019 study from Tokyo Medical and Dental University that concluded that “chewing forces may encourage changes in facial structure.”
“Research has shown that increased chewing frequency and mechanical stress increase the size of the jaw muscles and bones,” Stronger Gum owner Thomas Palomaki told CBS MoneyWatch in an email, citing the same study. “As anecdotal evidence, I have seen increases in jaw muscle size from chewing Stronger Gum for less than a year.”
Why are facial gums so popular?
Face gum is just one of many trends being adopted by young consumers looking to accentuate their jawlines. Another technique, called “mewing,” made famous by British orthodontist John Mew, involves pressing the tongue against the roof of the mouth for long periods of time, all day.
Like facial gum, TikTok’s popular meeing is part of a larger trend known as “luxmax,” a collection of male-oriented behaviors and products touted as effective at improving men’s appearance. Like most luxmax trends, meeing has been dismissed by some doctors as an ineffective way to change the structure of the face.
“Facial remodeling can’t be achieved simply by repositioning the tongue,” the American Association of Orthodontists said in a January statement. “It is a complex process that involves moving the jaw bones, facial bones and soft tissues. Meowing has been a hot topic on social media recently, but there is currently no research to suggest that this technique provides any benefit to jaw contour or oral health.”
Do facial gum products really work?
Face gum may be the latest social media trend in male beauty, but there’s no scientific evidence that chewing the product will tighten your jawline, dental experts told CBS MoneyWatch.
The American Dental Association is reluctant to declare these products effective, saying more research is needed to determine whether they work.
“Most fad trends are rarely backed by scientific evidence and range from ineffective to harmful when it comes to oral health,” ADA spokesman Edmund Hewlett told CBS MoneyWatch.
Chewing harder gum may actually have other negative effects on a person’s health, Hewlett added.
“Chewing gum forcefully and regularly for long periods of time, especially if the gum is thick or viscous, can cause symptoms such as jaw pain and headaches and increase the risk of temporomandibular joint disorders,” said Hewlett, a professor of dentistry at the University of California, Los Angeles.
