A/ Studies from the Speech and Language departments at the University of Manchester and the University of Oxford on children experiencing Speech and Language problems show a strong link which has been put forward for Speech problems being associated to problems of mastication (chewing). To elucidate this, the muscles of mastication are associated with not just mastication but also speech as the muscles of mastication have a role in lip movements to allow pronouncing of the words.

A/ What you have to remember is that people express there emotions in totally different ways. Studies have shown than people with Speech problems may show a lack of facial expressions, but this is not conclusive. These are many muscles associated with facial expressions and the muscles of mastication only have a relative minor role to play.

A/ No wonder the teacher went mad; your colleague had done something very silly. What has happened is when you take a big yawn you temporally dislocate the jaw. The punch would have been so traumatic for the poor student that the jaw would have been permanently dislocated and would have to be popped into the correct position by a maxillofacial surgeon. There should be no long term problems for the student.

 A/ I think the teacher is saying in a polite way that maybe you should try to talk less in class as this may be disruptive to others. The temporalis muscle as a result of evolution is the most efficient muscle of mastication; evolution has resulted in the muscle being relatively large yet in proportion to the other muscles of mastication. Millions of years of evolution have resulted in the temporalis being the size it is, twenty years I do not think will make a noticeable difference.

 A/ This is a difficult one, as it is hard for me to comment on, however the Buccinator has a minor role in mastication, this muscle is used when you whistle, pout your lips or when swallowing and the lips tighten. NB-This website does not endorse any plastic surgery, the sole mission of the site is to help students with L2 or L3 learning. 

It appears that you have a TMJ disorder, in which case you should visit a GP as soon as possible. TMJ disorders are a fairly common problem, in fact 1:10 people suffer from jaw problems during their life. You can significantly decrease your risk of developing this disorder by not chewing gum for more than twenty minutes during the day. I found this leaflet from the NHS which discusses solutions for TMJ disorders and how to prevent them in the future. NHS- TMJ disorder.