Maxilla

The maxilla is the upper jaw: the bone carrying the upper teeth, forming the floor of the eye sockets and most of the midface. Its forward projection is the thing looksmax discussion means by "forward growth", and it matters because a maxilla positioned further forward supports the cheek, the eye area and the nose base, which changes the whole midface rather than one feature. What determines that position is largely genetic and largely settled by the end of facial growth in the late teens. In a growing child, orthodontic expansion and functional appliances can genuinely influence it, which is where the underlying research comes from. In an adult it is moved by surgery — Le Fort osteotomy or MSE — and by nothing else. Tongue posture does not move it, and the claim that it does is an extrapolation from the paediatric work.