Bone structure
Towel Sucking (Jaw Trick)
Sucking a rolled towel trains a swallow pattern, not a mandible. The 'after' photos are suction-flushed tissue that settles within the hour.
Also called: towel sucking · towel trick · sucking a towel jawline · towelmaxxing
Verdict — cope
The mechanism does not hold. Your time is better spent elsewhere.
Evidence grade D
Nobody has demonstrated this works. Note that this grades the evidence, not the danger — read the verdict for that.
Mechanism
Recruits the suprahyoid and buccinator muscles under sustained negative pressure. Those are soft-tissue muscles of swallowing — none of them insert in a way that could remodel the mandibular body or gonial angle.
Citations
- Orofacial myofunctional therapy and orthodontic outcomes: a scoping reviewInternational Journal of Orofacial Myology · 2021
- Temporomandibular disorders and parafunctional oral habits: a systematic reviewJournal of Oral Rehabilitation · 2020
The full read
The trend borrows mewing's premise (posture shapes bone) and applies it to a muscle group that has even less contact with the skeleton than the tongue does. What you see immediately afterwards is real but temporary: sustained suction and clenching flush interstitial fluid out of the cheeks and engorge the masseter, so the lower face reads tighter for 20–60 minutes. Done aggressively it is a reliable way to aggravate the temporomandibular joint. If a defined jaw is the goal, body-fat percentage moves it far more than any oral exercise will.