Facial Development
If you don’t want to raise ugly babies, it’s important to understand how important chewing is to facial development! The bottom line is…your child needs to chew! Your child needs something more than applesauce, yogurt, and pureed baby food! Chewing is a fundamental part of facial development and learning to chew early and often will be a key to optimal facial development.
Concerns About Facial Development Are Ages Old
In this industry, we talk often about the works of Dr. Weston Price, a dentist who studied the relationship between nutrition, dental and overall health. In the 1930’s he investigated his theories all over the world by examining many different indigent cultures to see how their diet and dental health varied. These populations had not yet been touched by the Industrial Revolution and the change in diet and food products, so these populations were still eating their native diets.
He traveled far and wide to gather thousands of photos, slides, and film snippets and went on to publish his book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, to share his findings.
One of the most interesting fruits of his labor was his discovery that the indigent populations had much better facial development than those who had been struck by the “Westernized” diet. Those populations who had started eating an altered diet of more processed, refined foods had started to see changes to their facial development.
How Chewing Fits Into This Conversation About Facial Development
The facial development of an infant is affected by many things: genetics, chewing, nutrition, tongue position, breastfeeding, and breathing. Chewing is a very important part of the process and has been detailed very well in a couple of recent books.
Both Jaw’s the Story of a Hidden Epidemic by Sandra Kahn and Paul R. Ehrlich and The Dental Diet by Dr. Steven Lin detail ways to help your child grow in the best possible way. Chewing, chewing, chewing will give your child an advantage to having adequate facial development.
The movement of Baby Led Weaning has recently gained a lot of momentum. This movement encourages your child to feed themselves, rather than have you cut, chop, puree or cook to death their food. Nutritious food provided to them in their raw or pure form will be excellent for them.
In this video, you will learn more about the work of Weston Price and the Weston A. Price Foundation, why chewing matters for your child and how you can make a difference in the craniofacial growth of your child.
About Carmen
Carmen found her path of passion years ago as a dental hygienist. After a stint in graduate school to earn her M.B.A., she left clinical hygiene practice to start her business, Integrative Myofunctional Therapy. In addition to seeing clients in her private online practice, she also teaches the craft of myofunctional therapy in her Myo Mastery Program, coaches dental offices on how to implement myofunctional screening into the daily practice, and speaks frequently in various settings.
Carmen is a provider for the Foundation of Airway Health, where she works diligently for the recognition, diagnosis, and treatment of airway related disorders.
In addition, she is a proud member of several professional associations that afford her the opportunity to learn so that she can help her clients. Her professional memberships include: