Michael ‘Mike’ Mew

Introduction

Dr Michael Gordon Mew — Mike Mew — is a British orthodontist whose name became a verb: “mewing”, the jawline posture technique with more than two billion views on TikTok and a Netflix documentary to its name. In November 2024, after a seven-year General Dental Council investigation, a Professional Conduct Committee tribunal found all but one of the allegations against him proved, described him as a “risk to public safety”, and directed that he be erased from the dental register with immediate effect.

Background Information

Mew is the third generation of a family of orthodontists and the son of John Mew, who invented “orthotropics” — “correct growth” — the theory that faces can be steered towards a desired shape through jaw posture and muscle use. His father made him wear a bespoke palate-expanding device throughout his childhood; Mike took over the family practice in Purley, south London, trading as Orthodontic Health, after his father retired.

Mewing — holding the tongue against the roof of the mouth for hours a day to, as his Ultimate Mewing Guide promises, “align the teeth, accentuate your cheekbones, sharpen your jawline and even straighten your nose naturally” — grew out of marketing videos he began making in 2014. After a talk at the 21 Convention, a masculine self-improvement event, the technique was named on “incel” message boards and exploded on TikTok with the looksmaxxing trend. Neither the NHS nor the GDC recognises orthotropics as a treatment; the regulator described Mew as its only UK practitioner.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations vs. findings. The findings are regulatory findings by the General Dental Council’s Professional Conduct Committee on the civil standard (the balance of probabilities). No criminal conviction is recorded; one allegation was found not proved.

Mew was first reported to the GDC in 2017 by a hospital consultant who saw one of his patients mid-treatment; the investigation ran seven years before the tribunal sat on 4 November 2024, with the ruling published on 8 November 2024. The case centred on two six-year-old patients. In 2016 he recommended an orthotropic course for Patient A, a girl, involving upper and lower arch expansion appliances and the wearing of neck gear — telling her parents it would “make way for the tongue”, deliver “a substantial increase in nasal capacity” and “improve the midface”. He also referred her for what the tribunal heard was an inappropriate “lingual tongue-tie release” surgery, and the appliances caused a traumatic ulcer; the committee called the treatment “invasive”. Patient A’s mother, the tribunal heard, remains a supporter.

Patient B, a six-year-old boy treated in 2018 despite a Class 1 occlusion and normal craniofacial development, was fitted with head and neck gear to be worn at least eight hours a day, an expansion appliance for at least 18 hours, and removable upper and lower appliances — a treatment priced at £12,500 for 36 months. The hearing was told he struggled to keep the devices on, stopped after four months, struggled to eat, and suffered seizure-like episodes when pushed to wear them. Aliyah Janmohamed, a dentist at the Purley clinic, told the hearing: “He would have the seizure-like episodes if pushed too far so mum and dad were having issues.” The boy’s mother called Mew a “dangerous professional who needs to listen to his patients more”. Mew told the Guardian he believed the episodes were tantrums — “basically, he would have a meltdown, scream and shout”.

The third strand was a 2017 YouTube video, “Orthodontics Beyond the Teeth”, which the GDC found made inappropriate and/or misleading claims — including that creating enough tongue space could influence facial growth and bring about “expansion of the brain, expansion of the dental arches as well”. The committee determined that treatment was not clinically indicated for either child, as there was no objective evidence to support it, and found all allegations proved except one. On erasure rather than suspension, it said Mew’s “unwavering and longstanding belief in orthotropics meant that it was unlikely that there would be any change in the circumstances of your case in 12 months’ time”.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Mew cast himself as a heretic persecuted by the establishment. “The General Dental Council has offered as much scientific evidence for their approach as the Pope did in convicting Galileo for saying that the Earth revolved around the Sun,” he said after the ruling. “The naked truth is that the GDC is more concerned about protecting the lucrative orthodontic industry than protecting children from harm.”

After the ruling, the British Orthodontic Society issued a public warning, advising anyone told a treatment could raise a child’s cheekbones or significantly change their jaws to “proceed with caution and seek alternative advice”. “There is no scientific evidence to suggest patients can change the shape of their face or improve their intelligence by chewing or holding teeth and the tongue in a closed position or indeed making any kind of facial movements,” the society said.

Current Status

Mew is erased from the GDC register with immediate effect, under an immediate order made “for the protection of the public”. By May 2025 the Guardian reported him suspended pending an appeal due to reach the High Court that summer. The proceedings had cost him around £600,000, he said, plus his clinical practice and the former family home: his company went into liquidation the day before the Guardian’s interview, he and his wife have separated, and he described himself as broke. He now depends on his mewing content for a living, including a paid app with prices starting at £25.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Struck off three decades after qualifying, Mew can no longer practise orthodontics in the UK, ending a clinical line begun by his father — whose own licence the GDC removed in 2017, at 89, over false advertising and confidentiality claims. He continues to reject the tribunal’s findings on unnecessary treatment of two children and misleading video claims: “I was being had up for being a heretic,” he told the Guardian, calling Patient A’s outcome a “stunning success” that her family was happy with. His remaining platform is content. From a home studio in Tunbridge Wells he plans to take the facial-growth debate to TikTok and YouTube, asking followers to send photos of their faces for crowd-sourced research — while mewing itself, detached from its inventor’s registration, keeps its billions of views.

Sources

The Independent, “TikTok ‘mewing’ orthodontist struck off after boy, 6, had ‘seizure-like episode’”, 8 November 2024. source
Scottish Dental magazine, “Dentist struck off for inappropriate and misleading treatment”, 12 November 2024. source
The Guardian, “‘There’s no excuse for ugly people’: controversial dentist Mike Mew on how ‘mewing’ can make you more attractive”, 17 May 2025. source