Ancient switch to soft food gave us overbite–the ability to pronounce 'f's,'v'

Jaw size, diet, and “hard food”

• Several commenters connect modern smaller jaws and malocclusion to soft diets in childhood, suggesting harder foods (nuts, raw vegetables, tough meats, crispbread, dried meats) promote healthier jaw development.
• Others ask for concrete definitions; responses generalize “hard food” as anything that requires significant chewing or “goes crunch.”
• Bread crust anecdotes (cutting crusts off for kids, industrial vs artisanal bread) are used as informal examples of cultural shifts toward softer food.

Mewing, orthodontics, and evidence

• One line of discussion centers on “mewing” and claims that modern jaw problems are largely environmental, reducible with “jaw-healthy” diets and tongue posture.
• Proponents argue orthodontics are effective but profit-driven and that skull comparisons over time support a developmental (not genetic) cause.
• Skeptics demand rigorous evidence, dismiss before/after imagery, and object to framing professional criticism or license revocation as “cancellation.”

Breathing, sleep, and general health

• The book Breath is cited repeatedly, with users reporting benefits from nasal-breathing aids (mouth tape, mastic gum) and breathwork for heart rate and sleep.
• Others link recessed jaws to mouth breathing, sleep apnea, GERD, bruxism, and posture issues.
• A broader rant laments modern ill-health (vision, posture, sedentary work, processed food), while replies point to genetics, inequality, and access to healthy habits as major drivers.

Agriculture, food processing, and biology

• Some claim agriculture and soft/processed foods (milling, bread, cheese, fermentation) degraded dentition and increased sleep apnea; others call “agriculture was the worst thing” hyperbolic.
• Debate over whether we can or should live in ways “coherent with our biology,” with counters noting human adaptation to cooked and processed diets and the impracticality of true hunter-gatherer lifestyles today.
• Historical claims about Eskimo/Inuit teeth and meat-heavy diets are challenged as weak evidence.

Phonetics, overbites, and language change

• Multiple commenters test and report being able to produce /f/ and /v/ with underbites, casting doubt on the article’s implication; others note comfort and efficiency over long speech might still matter.
• Clarification that these are labiodental sounds: overbite vs underbite is less crucial than lip–tooth contact, but population-level jaw misalignment could shift phoneme frequencies.
• Skepticism is expressed about the 29% “easier to pronounce” figure and about attributing Greek or Spanish sound shifts (e.g., Latin f→h in Spanish) to dental health rather than standard phonological processes like lenition.
• Some call the overall linguistic–jaw linkage “bullshit,” while others say the skeletal shift from edge-to-edge bites to overbites is well documented, with mechanism (chewing vs genetics) still debated.

Development vs evolution

• A key clarifying point: jaw changes here are framed as developmental (diet shaping an individual’s growth) rather than evolutionary (genetic change), so relatively rapid historical shifts are considered plausible.
• Chewing/gnawing in early childhood is said to correlate with greater jaw length and more room for teeth; this is likened to how early physical use shapes the rest of the skeleton.

Vision, lifestyle, and inequality

• One thread criticizes putting glasses on kids, preferring prevention via outdoor time and distance viewing; others with strong refractive errors or strabismus emphasize that glasses are life-enabling, not cosmetic.
• Several participants report heavy outdoor childhoods yet still needing glasses, arguing genes matter; “reducing” risk is distinguished from “eliminating” it.
• Another commenter stresses that good health is often a privilege: healthy food, sports, and therapy cost time and money.

Tools and references mentioned

• Books: The Evolution of the Human Head and Breath are repeatedly recommended.
• Interactive phonetics tools: “Pink Trombone” and SeeingSpeech’s IPA charts are shared as ways to visualize how sounds are produced.