If you grind your teeth when you’re not eating food, you may have a condition known as bruxism. Constant grinding and clenching may cause your teeth to wear down over time. They may become shorter and eventually break. Tooth grinding can affect more than just your teeth, too – you may face pain and stiffness in the jaw, frequent headaches, migraines, insomnia or depression.
The good news is that Dr. Amin Samadian offers a non-invasive bruxism treatment that comes with minimal pain and virtually no downtime. Botox can help alleviate the muscle soreness due to bruxism and it will remove the pressure on the teeth due to grinding that can literally break the teeth. It will also reprogram the brain and teaches it not to over-use the muscles.
Botox is an injectable that is often used to temporarily treat wrinkles that appear when you make certain facial expressions. It has also been FDA-approved to treat bruxism, headaches, and migraines and is widely used by neurologists and pain specialists. Depending on what muscles are causing the issue, Dr. Samadian performs a detailed evaluation of all the muscles of the head, face, and neck and will exactly determine how many units of Botox each muscle needs in order to treat the symptoms. The main muscles that are engaged in bruxism are Masseter, Medial and Lateral Pterygoid, and Temporalis.
Dr. Amin Samadian most of the times recommends Botox as the ideal treatment and maintenance protocol of bruxism and might combine it with medications, mouth guards, stress management techniques, physical therapy and chiropractic techniques and other treatments for bruxism to fully bring the condition under control.
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During a bruxism treatment, Dr. Amin Samadian will make a thorough assessment of all the muscles involved, trigger points, referred pain area and will inject Botox into the muscles that are involved. The injection will weaken the muscle and will teach your brain not to overuse it. This weakening will only eliminate the amount of overuse (hypertrophy) of the muscles and you can still function and eat and chew properly but without breaking and chipping your teeth. You’ll be out of our office in less than 30 minutes and can resume work and your daily activities right away. It will take between 3 days to two weeks for the effects to fully show, that’s why Dr. Samadian always recommends the minimum dose and will reevaluate after two weeks to see if any of the muscles need any more units of Botox.
A very fine needle is used during this jaw clenching treatment so you don’t have to worry about any serious pain or discomfort. Most patients find it to be very tolerable, especially when Dr. Amin Samadian applies a topical anesthetic. Sometimes, Dr. Samadian also uses Lidocaine in his trigger point therapy of the shoulder, which is an anesthetic solution.
While Botox is not a cure for bruxism, you may find that it can control its symptoms better than other treatments and it’s effective 24/7. The results of this teeth grinding treatment will typically last for a year, and in upcoming years if the other maintenance techniques that are recommended by Dr. Samadian used, the subsequent treatments will require a lot fewer units of Botox.
*Individual Results May Vary
I could not recommend Dr. Samadian more – AND all of his staff, at that! No longer will I mind or be afraid of going to the dentist.
It’s a completely transformative kind of practice…it was a terrific experience.
Very informative, patient and sensitive to your needs. Very focused, and desires to ensure it’s done properly the first time.
Specializing in treatments such as digital reconstructions, aesthetic dentistry, and implant dentistry. Focusing on regeneration and restoring tooth structure, bone loss, and gum recession.
