The Movement · Est. 1969

Threegenerations,one inquiry.

What began as one observer's question has, over sixty years, become a worldwide study. Educators, students, and self-directed learners gathered around a single body of work.

57

Years of inquiry

3

Generations

40+

Countries reached

1

Organising idea

Lineage

A continuous thread, 1969 → Today.

  1. 1969

    The question is asked

    John Mew begins clinical observation and study of facial growth in England.

  2. 1980s

    The first synthesis

    Early teaching and writing emerge around a single, coherent framework.

  3. 2000s

    A second generation

    Mike Mew carries the work forward, refining and broadening its educational reach.

  4. 2010s

    An online community

    Clinicians and researchers in jaw surgery, TMD, and ENT quietly confirm it. As sleep and breathing science advance, the wider world is catching up to an idea this field has long understood: that the shape of the jaw matters. Both professional and self-directed learners are enquiring about it, patients are demanding more.

  5. Today

    A large global movement

    The International Association of Facial Growth Guidance unites educators, students, and professionals across continents.

Allied organisations

A shared clinical mission.

Interdisciplinary airway & sleep medicine

  • AAPMD

    American Academy of Physiological Medicine and Dentistry — pioneers of the Collaboration Cures movement, uniting ENTs, paediatric dentists, myofunctional therapists, and physical therapists.

  • BADSM

    British Association of Dental Sleep Medicine — trains dental professionals to screen for sleep-disordered breathing and manage patients in a multidisciplinary pathway.

  • FAH

    Foundation for Airway Health — public-interest arm of the AAPMD, educating patients and providers on airway restriction, mouth breathing, and improper jaw growth.

Paediatric & early intervention

  • ASAP Pathway

    Airway, Sleep, and Pediatrics — clinical and educational network training dentists to identify airway issues in early critical growth years.

  • The Synergy Academy

    Neurodevelopmental Dentistry — integrative approach linking jaw alignment, deep sleep, and global childhood development.

Myofunctional & muscle function

  • AOMT

    Academy of Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy — international body expanding research and curriculum on tongue posture, muscle dysfunction, and sleep-disordered breathing.

Global policy

  • FDI World Dental Federation

    Global oral-health policy body that has increasingly integrated the dentist's role in identifying and preventing sleep-related breathing disorders.

Shared emphasis: interdisciplinary collaboration, early paediatric screening, and treating the structural root causes of sleep-disordered breathing and craniofacial restriction.

Reading list

Books that carry the idea further.

  1. 01
    Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art

    James Nestor

    International bestseller devoting major sections to evolutionary facial change — how soft industrial diets stopped stimulating our jaw muscles, causing mouths to shrink, faces to elongate, and airways to narrow.

  2. 02
    Jaws: The Story of a Hidden Epidemic

    Sandra Kahn & Paul R. Ehrlich

    A forward-thinking orthodontist and a Stanford biologist lay out the forward-growth movement (Orthotropics) and offer actionable advice for parents: hard chewing, proper oral posture, nasal breathing.

  3. 03
    Why We Sleep

    Matthew Walker

    The critical companion piece to the craniofacial story. Walker names Obstructive Sleep Apnea as a deadly epidemic destroying deep-sleep quality — books like Jaws pick up where he leaves off, explaining the structural cause.

  4. 04
    Sleep-Wrecked Kids

    Sharon Moore

    A natural bridge between paediatric jaw growth and sleep quality — translating the craniofacial–airway link into practical guidance for parents.

  5. 05
    The Oxygen Advantage

    Patrick McKeown

    Links functional breathing, athletic performance, and craniofacial growth. The tongue is meant to rest against the roof of the mouth: with nasal breathing and sealed lips it becomes an internal orthopaedic scaffold, widening the palate and driving the face forward.

  6. 06
    The Dental Distress Syndrome

    A. C. Fonder

    An older but deeply influential text. Fonder was among the first to document how malocclusion and improper jaw positioning trigger chain reactions through the nervous system — spinal misalignment, chronic headaches, digestive issues.

  7. 07
    Breathe 4.0: The Magic of Up-Lock Breathing

    Sandra Kahn & Wilfried Engelke

    The concrete physical blueprint. Where Jaws named the epidemic and The Oxygen Advantage popularised nasal breathing, Breathe 4.0 shows craniofacial development is governed by internal oral-pressure gradients — mastering the Up-Lock vacuum is essential to shaping the human face.