When you think of Botox in Oshawa, you probably think about wrinkle-relaxing treatments, but this is only one application for Botox. While it’s true Botox can be very effective in relaxing muscles and reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, we can also use it in other ways, particularly for people with TMJ disorder.
What Is TMJ Disorder?
TMJ disorder is a painful condition affecting the jaw joints called temporomandibular joints, where people will often clench and grind their teeth, usually during sleep. The result can be teeth that wear down significantly, but at the same time, clenching and grinding can inflame the jaw joints causing facial pain that can spread to the temples. As a result, people with TMJ disorder will often experience chronic headaches and migraines that can last all day.
How Can Botox Help?
Botox treatment in Whitby can be used therapeutically to treat TMJ disorder. Our experienced dentists can gently examine your jaws, and we can use small amounts of Botox to help relax the muscles that cause clenching and grinding. Botox helps to block the nerve signals that control these muscle movements. After receiving this treatment, your jaw muscles can start to relax, reducing pain and inflammation and making it easier to open and reducing muscle pain and tenderness.
Therapeutic Botox also helps protect your teeth, as clenching and grinding can chip and crack them and, in the worst case, wear them down so significantly that they start to loosen. It can even lead to premature tooth loss.
How Is Botox Administered?
Botox is administered using very fine needles, and treatment is minimally invasive. It does take a while for the full effects to materialize, so you may need to wait two or three weeks to get the full results of treatment.
Once you receive therapeutic Botox injections in Ajax, you can expect the results to last between six and nine months. After this time, you may need to top up the results, but if you continue with treatment, you could find that the frequency decreases over time, and some people will find they do not even need any repeat treatments.
Using Botox for a Gummy Smile
A gummy smile is where too much gum is shown during smiling or talking. Sometimes the problem is due to an excess of gum tissue, and removing this excess and carefully contouring the gums solves the problem. Other times it can be due to overactive muscles in the upper lip, so when you smile or talk, these muscles pull the upper lip up too far.
Botox can help relax these muscles so the upper lip doesn’t move too far up, creating a more aesthetically pleasing smile. Treatment can also remedy lip inversions, where the upper lip becomes thinner and tucked under during smiling. Again, relaxing the overactive muscles in the lips can help reduce the inversion while smiling. Generally, the results of treatment can last for around six months. Another option when treating thinner lips is to use Botox with fillers. Combining the two treatments can help create a more natural and fuller appearance.
Why See a Dentist for Botox Treatment?
During training, dentists learn extensively about facial muscles and how they work, resulting in in-depth knowledge of facial anatomy. Therefore, when it comes to Botox or fillers, there’s probably no one better you could see for this treatment. At Margolian Dentistry, our experienced dentists can determine exactly where to use minimal amounts of fillers and Botox in Ajax for the greatest impact, ensuring the results look and feel natural.
