The Pope, the TikTok orthodontist, and the GDC
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- Published: Wednesday, 13 November 2024 10:13
- Written by Peter Ingle
- Hits: 2287
The long running struggle between the dental regulator and a controversial orthodontic philosophy, has reached its conclusion. The man behind the TikTok phenomenon of “mewing” and second generation proponent of ‘orthotropics,‘ Michael Mew, is to be erased from the dentists register.
This is the latest and possibly last battle in the war between firstly John Mew and then his son Michael, and the GDC. In a process that has dragged on, even by the GDCs standards, the actual hearings which began on April 3rd 2023 finally concluded on November 6th 2024. The Professional Conduct Committee’s (PCC) deliberations stopped and started no less than eight times with most of those bursts of activity lasting a few days.
The GDC case rested upon the treatment of two patients between 2013 and 2019. In the case of one patient it would appear that Mr Mew’s problems began when he referred the patient for surgery to release a lingual tongue-tie. The Consultant Oral and Maxillofacial Consultant that they saw took the view that they did not require a lingual tongue tie-release, and noted that they had developed a large anterior open bite as well as a traumatic ulcer on the lingual fraenum.
The second patient’s treatment had commenced at age two. When seen by another dentist five years later they were found to have recession of the labial gingiva of a permanent lower incisor. Over this period there had been no cephalometric or similar analysis, decay involving multiple primary molars had not been treated, there were no study models, nor communication with the patient’s paediatrician.
There was also the issue of a specific YouTube video in which Dr Mew used words to the effect that claimed that if enough tongue space was created, and children use that tongue space, that it can influence facial growth and the craniofacial structure and, “expansion of the brain, expansion of the dental arches as well.”
The GDC held that the treatments had not been clinically indicated for the patients, not been in their best interests, and were liable to cause harm. The video claims were said to be inappropriate and misleading.
Well before the end of the 75 page determination it is apparent that Dr Mew realised that he was going to lose his registration.
Notably, Dr Mew’s legal representative asked that the committee make no immediate order for his suspension. His reasons were that Dr Mew had not taken on any new patients since the proceedings began, indeed the terms of his current insurance did not allow him to take on new patients. As a result the imposition of an immediate order was not necessary to protect the public.
With 105 patients still under treatment Dr Mew would need to arrange for one-to-one meetings with each of them to either establish how to complete their treatment or to refer to another practitioner. The Committee did not accept these requests and Dr Mew was suspended immediately.
Dr Mew has 28 days to lodge an appeal before the substantive order of erasure comes into effect.
The man whose TikTok videos, according to the Times have had 4.7 billion viewings, may yet have a greater reach than the GDC. Speaking to the paper he said, “In their ruling the General Dental Council has offered as much scientific evidence for their approach as the Pope did in convicting Galileo for saying that the earth revolved around the sun.” He went on to claim that the finding of malpractice was, “on a purely ideological grounds” and maintained that the mother of one patient in the case was “overjoyed” with the treatment. This is borne out by the PCC hearing record which notes that the child remained a patient of Dr Mew at the time of the hearings.
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