How to Fix a Crooked Jaw
Aug. 5, 2025
On crooked jaws, stress, and why chewing gum won’t fix it
By Dr. Yenile Y. Pinto, DDS
GQ recently ran a piece on something I see in my practice more often than you’d expect: men whose faces have slowly become uneven, one side of the jaw looking heavier than the other. They spoke to a couple of us to explain what’s actually going on — and what helps.
A lot of the time it traces back to stress. People grind their teeth for years without realizing it, and the jaw muscle on one side gets overworked and bulks up — the way one side of your body would if it were the only side you ever trained. Slowly, the face starts to look asymmetrical.
But the part I most wanted readers to take away is that the jaw isn’t always the whole story. Sometimes what looks like a muscle problem is really a breathing problem — something like sleep apnea — and the grinding is the body’s response to an airway that isn’t working well at night. That’s why I screen for airway and breathing issues as part of a comprehensive evaluation , not just the teeth in front of me. Improve the airflow and you often help far more than the jawline.
GQ also asked about the “jawline gum” and gadgets being marketed to men right now. My honest answer was blunt:
Chewing gum is like giving a sprained muscle more reps at the gym. For someone already grinding, it will likely make things worse.
If you’re already grinding, adding resistance is the last thing your jaw needs — you’re just reinforcing the pattern that caused the problem in the first place.
Underneath all of it is stress, and the cycle feeds itself: the more you worry about your face, the more you grind. In my experience, men in particular tend to white-knuckle that stress rather than manage it, and it catches up with them physically. Exercise, better sleep, therapy — the unglamorous things genuinely help.
If you’ve noticed your jaw changing, or you’re waking up sore or with headaches, it’s worth having someone look at it properly. These things rarely resolve on their own, but they’re very manageable once you understand what’s driving them.
Keep Smiling,
Dr. Yenile Pinto
