The internet is constantly reinforcing certain beauty standards for men and women. These days, some boys and young men have become preoccupied with the desire for a strong jawline and are turning to “facial fitness gum” in hopes of achieving that chiseled look.
A handful of chewing gum companies market their chewing gum products, specifically through Tik Tok, where some users claim that their jawline definition is due to their gum-gnawing habits. The idea is that chewing gum will increase the muscles in your jaw to create a more defined and seemingly more masculine shape. One such company, Stronger Gum, says on its website that “stronger jaw muscles are not only beneficial for facial appearance but also essential for health.” These go hand in hand with similar “jaw trainers”, silicone products meant to be rubbed on for jaw training. But as far as science goes, there’s little evidence to suggest that chewing gum, or anything else, can make significant and lasting changes to the shape of your face, no matter how hard that gum is.
“Gum is so readily available and it’s not that hard to commit to chewing it…I love it,” says Sunthosh Kumar Sivam, a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Baylor College of Medicine. “But when I put on my facial plastic surgeon hat, I have some concerns.”
“There are many different reasons why someone might not have the definition in their jaw that they want,” says Sivam. Neck fat can contribute to a softer jaw line, as is loose skin in older adults. Lifestyle changes to lose some weight can often really change the definition you see in your jawline.
Plus, Sivam says, a flaw in the jawline concept is that people tend to want a bony look to their jawline—the line won’t do anything for that part of the jaw, it’ll just add bulk to your jawline. jaw muscles. And you’ll probably have to chew gum for excessive hours during the day, for many weeks to see real results. Results that would disappear as soon as you stop constantly chewing.
“I don’t think these people, especially young people, understand the downstream effects of their activities,” says John S. Vorrasi, chairman of the department of oral and maxillofacial surgery at the University of Rochester Medical Center. “The average person only needs to chew their teeth for about an hour and a half a day,” he says. If you extend it to four or five hours a day, “that’s way above the limit of what we normally do, and you’re going to see some inherent side effects with that.”
The side effects for excessive gum chewing will be quite similar to those for chronic jaw clenching or grinding, says Vorrasi. “There are many people who get temporal headaches as a result of overusing these muscles.” In addition, you could damage the tissues in your jaw joints, and your overworked muscles could break down and cause you to have episodes of a closed or locked jaw.
When patients have jaw joint pain, “one of our biggest recommendations is to avoid chewing gum at all,” says Sivam. When it gets really bad, “we have to put patients on a special diet where we really limit chewing at all for a few weeks and the pain can be very difficult to deal with.”
If someone has a persistent desire to change the shape of their face, the first step would be to make some lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise, says Sivam. Beyond that, to really change the shape of your jawline, you’ll have to resort to cosmetic surgery. Options that can reshape the jawline include getting contoured implants or dermal fillers along the jawline, liposuction or removal procedures, or a neck lift.
There are some things our bodies aren’t meant to do, says Vorrasi. Anyone who is really interested should “have this conversation with a professional to talk about ways to achieve this result without causing yourself unnecessary harm.”
