Neurotoxin Injections for Bruxism

WHAT IS BRUXISM?

Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TJD) also known as Bruxism, presents as teeth grinding or teeth clenching and is often associated with feelings of stress in daily lives. Most people do not often notice that they are grinding in the daytime, but it becomes uncontrollable at night while asleep.

Clenching and grinding of teeth occur due to constant flexing and contracting of overactive Masseter muscles, or the chewing muscle, and can cause headaches, earaches, facial pain, and muscle thickening or hypertrophy.

BRUXISM TREATMENT

Treatment options include wearing a bite block at night to prevent grinding, but people usually end up spitting it out in their sleep or awaken with jaw soreness. Surgery is another option but is not preferred as it is an invasive procedure, and the results are not always fully effective. Botox injections are noninvasive and very effective facilitators of breaking the habit.

BOTOX INJECTIONS

For the treatment of bruxism, Botox is injected into the masseter muscle to partially weaken it, reducing jaw pain and headaches. With time the muscle shrinks in size and the jaw becomes less prominent. Chewing and smiling are not affected.

During the injection, Botox is injected into the masseter muscle on each side. Cooling spray or placing Ice can be used on each cheek to numb the area, but not required. In most cases, the Temporalis muscle needs to be injected also as it works together with massester muscle, and become thinker or hypertrophied if continues to work unopposed without active masseter muscle. The procedure only takes about five minutes for each side.

Some clients feel less muscle soreness the next day, and lasts for three months, allowing them to break the habit of grinding with time.

Some patients only require a couple of treatments to completely break the cycle of bruxism, while other patients need more treatments to break the cycle.

We recommend this procedure twice a year, as the effects last about 6-8 months.