Teen boys are using 'fitness' gum and jaw trainers to try to get defined jawlines
Havinga well-defined jawline has become an aesthetic obsession for some teen boys online — and a wellspring of products and unstudied techniques have arrivedclaiming to help them achieve the coveted look.
Products like silicone “jaw trainers,” meant to be gnawed on in 10-minute intervals, and “facial fitness” gum haven’t been scientifically studied on a wide scale, and many dental professionals have expressed skepticism about the exaggerated changes in jaw shape advertised online. But that hasn’t stopped videos of people testing out the trainers from drawing in millions of views online.
Similarly, techniques like “mewing,” an oral posture technique that involves pressing one’s tongue against the roof of the mouth with the aim of changing the shape of the jawline, also lack robust scientific assessment. Still, #mewing has been the subject of hundreds of thousands of videos on TikTok and YouTube — and the r/mewing community on Reddit consists of more than 60,000 members.
Anton Perl, co-founder and CEO of the popular facial gum and jaw trainer brand Jawliner, said the company was inspired to develop facial fitness gum after seeing the success of its silicone jaw trainer, which exploded in popularity within the male beauty scene. “That was like the dream,” he said.
Jawliner’s two-month gum supply pack costs $41.99 at full price, provoking sticker shock for many people used to buying gum at a convenience store checkout. Perl said that’s because his product contains 10 times more mass than a typical stick of gum. He added that he does not recommend the gum for anyone with pre-existing jaw problems.
Sachin Patel, the founder of facial gum brand Rockjaw, also wrote in a statement that his company has seen growing organic demand — not just from teenage boys, but a variety of men ranging from corporate professionals to athletes — since its launch in 2020, years before mewing and jawline gum became a TikTok trend.
But there’s little to no medical evidence that these techniquesand products achieve what they promise, and potential negative side-effects have not been studied.
Jawliner Facial Fitness chewing gum, mint flavor.Courtesy Jawliner
Dentist Mark Burhenne, co-founder of the “Ask the Dentist” podcast, said that strengthening one’s jaw muscles won’t change its shape, but losing weight might bring out its natural definition.
“Remember, teenagers typically are a little overweight. They’re not eating well, they’re not fully developed, and a lot of the time I would tell them that jaw is going to [develop] — it happened to me,” he told NBC News. “I had kind of puffy cheeks. … And then in my late 20s, my jaw structure didn’t change, but I started looking a little bit more well-defined.”
Burhenne said chewing facial gum is an expensive endeavor for likely no real result. At worst, chewing on gum that’s multiple times harder than regular gum for prolonged periods of time can crack a weak tooth, he said, and is hard on the jaw joint.
Before it became a popular TikTok trend, “mewing” was a slang term mostly confined to incel internet forums — online communities where men who identify as “involuntarily celibate” often discuss topics related to masculinity and resentment toward women — throughout the mid-to-late 2010s.
The concept of mewing is attributed to controversial British orthodontists John Mew and Mike Mew, the latter of whom was expelled from the British Orthodontic Society. Mike Mew continues to promote the practice online, which also spread to niche YouTube channels focused on facial aesthetics, such as JawHacks and Best Face Forward.
Recently, however, more male influencers have been pushing these ideals into increasingly mainstream arenas.
Developing a strong jawline is a key component of “looksmaxxing,” another slang term from online incel subcultures that refers to maximizing one’s physical appearance to improve social dominance. Such internet communities also emphasized bodybuilding and promoted niche techniques like “bone smashing,” which entails hitting one’s cheek or jaw bones with a hard object, attempting to chisel the face.
But “looksmaxxing” terms spilled over into more mainstream use after teenagers popularized concepts like mewing on TikTok, mostly by turning them into memes.
Still, some young viewers online have begun to take these methods more seriously.
New York-based dermatologist Dr. Kavita Mariwalla first heard of jawline-enhancing gum when her 12-year-old son asked her for it. Despite frequently receiving similar requests as a physician, she said, that day she learned that her preteen son wasn’t immune to being influenced by social media fads, either.
Mariwalla, a mother of three boys, said she’s used to seeing kids fixate on trendy products that people normally wouldn’t use until they grew a bit older: Preteens are increasingly interested in fragrances, she said, and young children have gone viral over the past year for their obsession with makeup and skincare.
“This trend I was a little bit alarmed by, because you’re trying to literally change the development of your musculature to fit an ideal that somebody else has fed to you,” she said. “I had to say to him, ‘Buddy, I’m sorry, but you’re the genetic byproduct of me and your dad, and I don’t know that you’re gonna have such a strong jaw when you get older. I hate to break it to you, and this gum isn’t gonna do it.’”
Angela Yang is a culture and trends reporter for NBC News.
Zoya WazirYasmin Vossoughian
Yasmin Vossoughian is an NBC News correspondent.
Jake Lubbehusen contributed.