Cosmetic Question: I have severe TMJ. I have tried everything. Nothing works. A friend said I should try Botox for TMJ. Is this true?
Cosmetic Answer:
Yes, it is true. Botox can be injected into the masseter muscle for TMJ pain. TMJ pain is often caused by an over-active masseter muscle. The masseter is the chief muscle that closes the jaw. The masseter often becomes over-active because of the teeth closing better on one side of your jaw compared to the other. The result is that the masseter keeps trying to get the teeth to close but it cannot.
Over-active masseter muscles can be caused by different things. Tooth grinding usually related to anxiety can be one cause and it seems to be more common in some groups of people than others. For instance, over-active masseter muscles are more common in Asians and Caucasians.
Botox and other neurotoxins, e.g. Dysport, Xeomin, work for TMJ pain because they weaken the masseter muscle, temporarily. The affects last approximately 3 months. You should make sure you choose a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon who has a lot of experience injecting neurotoxins in the face to do your injections. These injections can affect other facial muscles and if not done correctly you may get undesirable results.
At first it can be frustrating to get the response you want from the neurotoxin injections. The physician will have to judge how may injections you need, what kind of neurotoxin to use, whether to inject both masseter muscles or just one. So, yes Botox does work for treatment of TMJ pain if you have patience and are treated by a well qualified physician.
Learn more about TMJ and Botox in this video:
https://vimeo.com/106936119