Take a look at a photo of yourself from ten years ago. Does your face look wider at the bottom now? Do you feel like your jawline has become "heavy" or square?
While many people blame this on weight gain or normal aging, the actual culprit is often sitting right in your jaw: Chronic Clenching and Bruxism (teeth grinding).
The Bodybuilder Effect in Your Face
Your masseter muscles (the ones located at the angle of your jaw) are the strongest muscles in your body relative to their size. When you clench your teeth out of stress or during sleep, you are essentially putting your jaw through a heavy weightlifting session for hours at a time.
Just like your biceps grow when you lift dumbbells, your jaw muscles grow when you clench. This is a medical condition called Masseter Hypertrophy. The muscles bulge outward, creating a widened, bulky, or masculine appearance in the lower face. Furthermore, this hyperactive downward pulling action drags the corners of your mouth down, accelerating the formation of jowls.
