When you wake up in the morning, do you feel a meaningless tension in your jaw, jaw muscles that ache as if you have been in an invisible boxing match all night long? Or do you look in the mirror and sigh, “I didn't have such an angular face before, why has my jaw widened?”? At this point, one of the sweetest saviors of modern aesthetics comes to the scene: masseter botox. This application, popularly known as clenching botox or jaw botox, is also an effective bruxism treatment method.

While solving the problem of clenching (bruxism), which often reduces our quality of life, this procedure, which gives back those elegant V-shaped lines to the face, is one of the secret heroes of our clinic.

When the public thinks of Botox, forehead wrinkles and crow's feet always come to mind. However, the lower part of our face, our strong chewing muscle “masseter”, is the area that gets tired the most while fighting stress. Between traffic and work, we put all that burden on the jaw muscle by clenching our teeth at night while we sleep.

I can tell you this clearly: aesthetics is not always done just to become beautiful. Sometimes it is really done to say “oh, finally I am relaxed”.

Why does the masseter (chewing) muscle get so big?

Muscles have a simple logic: the muscle that works grows. Just like the arms grow when you go to the gym. The masseter is a chewing muscle located at the back corner of the jaw and is one of the strongest muscles in the human body. Normally, we only use this muscle when we eat and speak.

However, when stress, anxiety and sleep disorders come into play, we start to squeeze this muscle with high pressure (bruxism) for hours, especially at night during sleep. Over time, the muscle thickens (hypertrophy) as it repeats that intense training every night.

Aesthetically, this thickening leads to a squaring of the lower part of the face and a harsher expression. Medically, it can lead to worn teeth and head and neck pains that do not go away in the morning.

Before Bruxism Botox: Symptoms of Bruxism

My patients usually come with the following sentences: “I don't realize that I am clenching my teeth, but my wife can't sleep because of the noise” or “When I wake up in the morning, both sides of my face are stiff.” If you experience some of the following symptoms, you may have bruxism.

• Blunt pain in the jaw joint, in front of the ear or in the temples when you wake up in the morning.
• Enamel wear, flattening or unexplained tooth sensitivity that your dentist warns about.
• Your face, which used to be more oval, gradually starts to take a square shape in the mirror.
• Realizing that you involuntarily clench your teeth when you are stressed during the day.

If you want to see the medical definition of the subject more closely bruxism You can also take a look at independent sources on the subject.

Bruxism Treatment: How Does Masseter Botox Work?

Classic what is botox As we explained in our content, the main purpose of Botox is to give a short break to the signal communication of overworked muscles. When we make tiny touches on the thickened masseter muscle at the corner of the jaw, the muscle stops contracting with its destructive power. As it does not contract, it loses volume and becomes thinner, like the shrinking muscles of someone who quits sports.

Thanks to this thinning, the angular image in the lower half of the face softens. The jawline becomes thinner, cheekbones become more prominent. Your face regains that elegant form called “V-Shape”. It is one of the rare treatments where aesthetics and health meet so well in a single procedure.

Before and after the procedure: Healing on a Coffee Break

But should this process be intimidating? Absolutely not. On the contrary, we are talking about a process that can get rid of the headaches you have been suffering from for years in ten minutes.

• Consultation The first stage is a detailed analysis over coffee. By asking you to clench your teeth, we measure the size and asymmetry of the muscle.
• Painless application: The jaw area is sensationally stable; patients say they feel almost nothing. With a few millimeters of needle insertion, we deliver the toxin to the target point.
• Return to social life: You can return to your office without bruising, swelling or redness.
• Onset of impact: Botox prices As we mentioned in our article, it takes 10-15 days for the drug to settle. You will feel the pain relief in the first week and the thinning of the face in 3-4 weeks.

Night Plate or Chin Botox?

Doctors you visit with the complaint of clenching teeth usually recommend “night plates” as a first remedy. So which one is better? Actually, the tasks of the two are different.

The clear aligner protects the enamel from friction but does not relieve the muscle. Even with the aligner in your mouth, you continue to clench with the same intensity. So the morning jaw ache and the blackening of the face don't stop with the aligner.

Our medical recommendation, if you are an advanced bruxism patient, is to use night plaque to protect the tooth enamel, while disabling the excessive muscle strength that is the source of the real problem with masseter botox. It is necessary to solve the problem at its root, not to mask it.

What are the Risks? What Do We Pay Attention to in the Procedure?

As with any aesthetic intervention, it is essential that this procedure is performed in competent hands, that is, by a medical doctor. The anatomy of this area is complex; right next to the masseter muscle are the mimic muscles that allow us to smile.

If the person performing the procedure does it by rote without knowing the anatomy of where to apply the medication, the toxin may accidentally slip into the laughing muscles. As a result, the patient may experience annoying situations such as an asymmetrical smile.

In addition, the dose of the drug should be specially calculated by the physician according to the muscle volume of the person. Procedures performed with the logic of “20 units for everyone” put both the result and health at risk.