The Jaw Epidemic
The “jaw epidemic” describes the modern shift towards smaller jaws. By “jaws” we mean the upper and lower jaw bones, which form the main skeletal structure of the face.
When these bones don’t develop optimally, several health problems can occur. These include sleep breathing issues, as the soft tissues of the face can fall back into the throat during sleep; jaw joint disorders, as the jaws may not be aligned properly; and crooked teeth, as there may not be room for the full set of adult teeth.
The Jaw Epidemic
This paper describes the issue in detail, going into its history, possible causes, and solutions:
Craniofacial dystrophy
Dr Mike Mew described the issue and suggested the term “craniofacial dystrophy” in this article:
Overview
In industrialised societies, our jaws have shrunk significantly over the past few centuries.
This has caused a large increase in conditions such as crowding of the teeth, jaw joint problems, snoring, and sleep apnea.
This epidemic is happening right in front of us, but its symptoms are often normalised, downplayed, or explained away within mainstream medicine and popular culture. In order to fully recognise this issue, a perspective shift is needed.
Orthodontics
Dentists and orthodontists are the main providers of care and diagnoses related to the development of the jaws and facial bones.
The currently accepted explanation for crooked and crowded teeth is a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Many orthodontists admit that “we don’t really know”. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that the high rates of crooked teeth we see in industrialised societies are caused by changes in oral posture and function, which are environmental factors.
Orthodontic treatments often involve extraction and retraction of teeth and don’t address the underlying problem, which is often that the jaws are too small.
A few factors impede the recognition of the jaw epidemic and craniofacial dystrophy within orthodontics:
The separation between dentistry and the rest of medicine means dentists and orthodontists do not receive the same medical training as GPs.
Medically, culturally, and as a business, orthodontics is often seen as a cosmetic procedure with little or no relevance to health.
Private orthodontics is a lucrative business, and many practices depend upon mainstream treatment methods for their incomes.
Snoring & sleep apnea
Snoring is trivialised, even though it is a mild form of sleep-disordered breathing in itself and can be a sign of more serious issues such as sleep apnea.
Jaw joint (TMJ) problems
Jaw joint problems are widespread and often attributed to psychological factors such as stress.
Visible features
The visible features of jaw underdevelopment are normalised because they are so common. These include a long narrow face with a narrow smile; a small, set-back jaw; weak jawline; double chin; dark circles under the eyes; lack of prominence of the cheek bones; and forward head posture (or so-called “text neck”, which is actually a compensation for airway restriction).
Recognition
Many doctors, researchers, and patients have been attempting to raise the alarm on this issue for years or decades. Prominent figures in the field of orthodontics include the late Professor John Mew, his son Dr. Mike Mew, Dr. Bill Hang and Dr. Sandra Kahn.
There are various reasons why this issue hasn’t been recognised or addressed by mainstream healthcare systems. They include:
The separation between dentistry and medicine, which obscures issues that span the connection between the teeth and overall health.
Financial incentives to carry on the current standards of treatment in orthodontics.
Social and cultural taboos making craniofacial health a difficult topic to talk about, as it inevitably touches on physical appearance.
Our mission
The purpose of Jaw Health is to organise a patient-led movement towards addressing each of these issues. Our short-term aim is to increase awareness in order to gain credibility and momentum, and to enable people to make better-informed decisions about their health while we work on the longer-term changes that are needed.