Buccinator Tone
the cheek muscle looksmaxxers swear gives you hollow cheeks, and what actually does
Grounded in the research on Anatomy of the buccinator muscle (Wikipedia: Buccinator muscle); looksmaxxing community usage
[ ] what buccinator tone actually is
Your buccinator is the flat cheek muscle that presses your cheeks against your teeth so you can chew, whistle, and not bite your face up. 'Buccinator tone' is the looksmaxxing claim that training it tightens your cheeks and carves that hollow, model-flat midface. Real muscle, real job. The 'tone it for cheekbones' angle is forum theory bolted onto an anatomy diagram, not a proven aesthetic lever.
[ ] where the idea comes from
The buccinator itself is textbook anatomy, named from the Latin for 'trumpeter' because it compresses the cheeks. Nothing controversial there. What IS controversial is the leap, mostly a looksmaxxing-forum coinage with no real study behind it, that consciously 'toning' this muscle reshapes how your cheeks sit. Be honest: there's no solid research showing buccinator exercises sculpt a flat midface. It's an inference dressed up as a protocol.