John Mew, the developer of the Biobloc Orthotropic Appliance, was honored at AAPMD’s Oakland conference on sleep-disordered breathing on June 14. The originator of Orthotropics, Dr. John Mew, noticed that there was a very common pattern among people who had crooked teeth: their upper jaw bone was not forming properly.
He explains this as a side effect of our modern diet and environment (sugary, soft diets that don’t exercise our jaw muscles, and chronic open mouth posture). His theories have been corroborated by modern anthropology (Boyd, 2012)
In fact, the upper jaw is often set back (and narrow, and hanging down) even when it looks like the front teeth are sticking out! It’s just that the lower teeth and jaw are even FURTHER back in the face! Unfortunately, some conventional orthodontic techniques push the front teeth back, even more, leading to that “braces look” people have described to me over the years, and possibly aggravating breathing and jaw functions. If you don’t know that BOTH jaws are too far back (Bimaxillary Retrusion), then pushing the uppers back makes sense. But if you DO know, you’ll never want your front teeth pushed back at all.
