Hello. I am Dr. Russ Teasdale of Evolution Dental in Portland, Oregon, and I would like to discuss a treatment for facial pain that you may not realize is an efficient and effective option to relieve your discomfort.
TMJ disorder can be debilitating. Pain in the temporomandibular joint can ruin an evening, a day, a month, or a life. It can lead patients to make hasty decisions for drastic measures and radical treatments that don’t really fix anything and make the individual feel wary of any future treatment.
There are, of course, various ways to address this, but you really don’t want to make major decisions when you are in severe pain. You want the time to make a logical, reasoned choice on your best option. Time when you are not in pain or under stress.
The muscles that close and position the lower jaw, the masseter and the anterior temporalis, will work to close the jaw where the greatest number of teeth hit at the same time. Because this “greatest contact” position is frequently not where the joints are most comfortable, it is not surprising that the vast majority of TMJ pain comes not from the retromandibular joints themselves, but rather from the fatigue of the muscles that overlay the joints as they work hard to close and hold the jaw in an unnatural position. Until that jaw position is corrected, those muscles will continue to overwork and ache and hurt.
BOTOX, when properly given, can reduce or eliminate muscle-related TMJ pain almost immediately and can last for three or more months. It is safe, FDA-approved, hypoallergenic, and highly specific in its actions. It is not something one develops a resistance to, and it can be refreshed almost indefinitely.
This will provide you with the time to make a rational, pain-free choice as to how you would like to move forward in resolving your TMJ discomfort long-term. No sense in being uncomfortable while you await treatment, you know!
At Evolution Dental, we have used BOTOX for over a decade to calm the muscles that direct jaw movements, temporarily relaxing the muscles and giving time for the body to resorb the lactic acids that accrue within them. The muscles still do their jobs of chewing and speaking, but they no longer overwork, which means they no longer build up excess lactic acids and they no longer hurt. Oh, you can certainly still chew, smile, an talk with no problems, but you just won’t be clamping down quite as hard, or as continuously.
And the only esthetic change that may occur is that your face may become a but less bulky in the jowls. Not a bad side effect for most people!
That is why we say “BOTOX: It is for more than just a pretty face!”
This is Russ Teasdale, and I invite your questions at Evolution Dental in Portland, Oregon. Thank you, and I hope that this answers some of your questions. We look forward to providing you with the comfort you need to make these the best days, and the most restful nights, of your life.