I would like to relatively easier 3 steps to fix the asymmetrical face, as I got the idea from Jupiter, our follower who commented on our YouTube. Thank you so much Jupiter for introducing the idea!
Facial Symmetry Tip #1: Sleep On Your Back
Sleeping is like 1/3 of the day which is very long time, so the posture matters so much for the face. If you are sleeping on the side by pressuring one side of the lower jaw, the pressured side might shift to the other side, which causes an asymmetrical face. Of course, you're slightly moving around a bit naturally, and it is a sign that the body is trying to adjust unconsciously, but if you are sleeping on one side only for a long time, it matters. Usually, people tend to sleep on their dominant side. Like more people are right-handed, most people’s right jaw is dominant, so you might be sleeping on the right side too.
That's why I like back sleeping, and to train myself for back sleeping, I use a special back sleep pillow called AULA. Don’t be confused I recently started an OURA ring to check sleep quality though. If you are interested in the Sleep Challenge to compete for sleep quality, check out Koko’s Regenerative Life. My tip to people who cannot do back sleeping no matter what, maybe because of injury, pregnancy, or something is to put the pillow on the head skull, not the jaw.
What you don't want to do is to pressure the jaw. The jaw is the most movable bone in your face, so such consistent pressure changes the positions of each bone panel. It is not just the jaw that will be asymmetrical, but also all the other connected bone panels become asymmetrical.
Imagine 1/3 of the day, 7 to 8 hours per day, if you're doing it, it's really not good. Your jaw is the only bone that dramatically moves in your facial bones creating asymmetry. The area above the ear does not matter for asymmetries so much, because they are much stronger to protect the brains.
I understand some medical professionals recommend side sleeping for religious or whatever reasons, and that is totally fine. But I just want you to keep pressuring the jaw. Put the pillow on the head above the ear. If the area breaks, you are probably at a very high risk of death or serious injury. If so, an asymmetrical face is such a small issue for you.
By the way, I do slight side sleeping. I am not a perfect back sleeper. I move around which is normal, but I try not to do hard 90-degree side sleeping. Such 90-degree side sleeping causes not just an asymmetrical face, but also sleep lines on your neck, cheek, eye area, etc.
Facial Symmetry Tip #2: Chewing Gum On Your Non-Dominant Side
I'm not a big fan of chewing gum, because when you chew gum, it tends to use your dominant side only to chew. The left jaw is my dominant, so if I’m not conscious, the gum probably moves to the left. If you don’t know which side is your dominant jaw, check our Face Adjustment, Facial chiropractic Course. The quick version is to check the midlines on the upper and lower teeth. If the bottom line is shifted to the right, your right is likely to be dominant, although it does not apply to everyone. If that’s the case, you might be chewing food on the right side more than the left. As right-hand dominant is more common, right-jaw dominant is more common as well.
For this particular tip #2, when you eat chewing gum, you want to chew it on the nondominant side on purpose. In my case, my right jaw is nondominant, so I should chew on the right side only.
Jupiter suggests 3 times/day or more, every single day. Remember that consistency is the key to success! I think the frequency or length of each chewing gum depends on how much you want to improve your facial symmetry, but anyway, let’s try to chew on the nondominant side every time you eat chewing gum from now on.
I see many chewing gum for Mewing or to develop a strong jaw for men, but the way you chew is very important especially if you chew hard and/or often. You don’t want to sag the face or worsen asymmetry by chewing gum. Any asymmetry on the face comes from the jaw, because the forehead, eyebrows, eyes, temples, cheeks, lips, or any facial parts are connected to the jaw. So when the jaw is moving in an asymmetrical way, it makes the other bone panels asymmetrical too. I think tip #2 is a great idea, and I will personally try it every time I eat chewing gum.
Note that you should chew up as well. If you are chewing down, you are by mistake training depressor muscles (the red below the mouth corners in our anatomy.) to sag the face. If you are interested in learning more about Depressor Anguli Oris DAO, check out our video here.
In Jupiter’s case, it seems that Jupiter’s flat side is nondominant. But flatness or fullerenes is not so important to determine which side is dominant or not. So when you check, don’t bother which is flatter or fuller.
In my experience of monitoring so many facial movements, in general, the lifted side is dominant if you are not chewing down. If you have a habit of chewing down, the dominant side might be saggier than the other. So it depends on your habits. Anyway, the point is, don't worry about which side is flatter or fuller, but find out which Jaw is dominant. (How to identify here.) Once you find out, start chewing gum on the non-dominant side. Remember to chew up at least neutral, never downward.
Facial Symmetry Tip #3: 50:50 Chewing
If you want to know How to eat in more detail, please watch our tutorial, but the point here for symmetry is to chew the food in both cheeks at the same time. First, you put the food in your mouth, and break it down into pieces. After that, you want to distribute the food to both cheeks and start chewing up at the same time. By doing so, you are using both muscles at the same level. Dominant chewing is the biggest cause of asymmetrical face, so it does make sense to stop that.
If you see our anatomy, you see that cheek muscles are blue, which means sleeping. So it is good to activate them every time you eat. Especially if you have TMJ pain or TMD, you should try this 50:50 chewing-up system. The more tension in the masseter muscles, the more pain or disorder you get. Masseter muscles are 1 of the 4 chewing muscles and they are the leader of chewing movement. If chewing up is too much, just focus on 50:50 for now. 50:50 is more important than chewing up.
Eating is the most important jaw movement, and we do it every day. Any facial asymmetry comes from jaw movement habit, so it is important to correct it. You might do some facial massage or something to improve facial symmetry, but that’s just skin surface which has nothing to do with asymmetry because asymmetry comes from bone positions and muscle habits. Please imagine that skin is just like a blanket. If you don’t organize the items inside the blanket, the bed won’t be organized.
Another advanced tip for symmetrical eating is about the movement of the tongue while chewing. When you are chewing, your tongue might be moving around all over the mouth, or positioning more on the dominant side. If the latter, you should try to move in the middle.
Ideally, the tip of the tongue should be back and forced on the middle of the palate when you chew. Imagine the tip of the tongue stroking back and forcing every chew but on the middle of the pallet. Otherwise, the tip tends to stay on the dominant side. You might notice the dominant pallet (roof of the mouth) might be slightly higher than the other.
Summary:
Tip #1: Sleep On Your Back
Back sleeping is the best but if you cannot do, at least try to put the pillow on the head above your ear.
Tip #2: Chewing Gum On Your Non-Dominant Side
It is super important to identify which is dominant first before you do. And then, chew the gum on the nondominant side 3 times/day or even more, depending on your goal.
Tip #3: 50:50 Chewing
Chew the food on both cheeks at the same time. “At the same time” is the key!
Other than that, the body’s asymmetry causes facial asymmetry too. Try to stand straight, sit straight, and stop any asymmetrical body habits. I did a long time a go video about 7 bad habits to cause asymmetrical faces. Now I cannot stop looking at how people walk, including myself. Please watch others. You’ll see so many people walking or running in very asymmetrical movements like one arm is jumping around too much or leaning to the right side. If you keep doing asymmetrical walking, your body becomes asymmetrical which results in an asymmetrical face. In fact, one reason you have a hard time sleeping on the back might be your asymmetrical body structure.
I sometimes ask my friend to film me when I’m walking to see how I do. I try to check how my walking posture is on big windows too. So I know that I do asymmetrical walking too, although I am very conscious. So you can understand that regular people are doing way more asymmetrical movements. It is the same idea as 50:50 chewing. Whatever you have right and left sides, you want to use them at the same level as possible.