Bruxism (teeth grinding)

Some people have a medical condition called bruxism, which means they grind their teeth or clench their jaws and over time the grinding and clenching causes their jaw muscle, which is called the masseter muscle to get stronger and enlarge. The effects of grinding can damage teeth and cause jaw and neck pain.

Botulinum toxin injections into the masseter and sometimes also the temporalis muscle weaken the contractions of these muscles and decrease their size. This means less powerful grinding and clenching, thus protecting teeth and suffering less related pain from clenching and tension.

The reason the teeth grinding botulinum toxin treatment is also known as a jaw slimming treatment is because treating the masseter muscles causes them to weaken and become smaller over time which makes the jaw slim. Some people have a bulky jaw, and they are pleased to decrease the squareness of their jaw profile and to have a more V shaped face.

Anatomically placed muscle relaxing botulinum toxin is injected into specific areas and at specific depths into the jaw (masseter) muscle. The doctor will assess whether the temporalis muscle also needs to be treated, the temporalis is a muscle which works together with the masseter to clench and bite.

There is almost zero pain during the procedure and no downtime. Softening of the jaw muscle is usually the first noticeable effect at about 2 weeks after your treatment and then you will notice you are no longer clenching, and you do not have pain or tension any longer in your jaw. The decrease in size of the muscle takes longer as the decrease in size is happening as a result of the muscle getting less ‘exercise’.

The results will last for 4 to 6 months, and it is recommended not to get this area treated more than twice per year as a certain amount of jaw tension from the masseter muscle is optimal for medical reasons.