What are the applications of botox in dentistry?

Botox was used first and foremost as a cosmetic procedure to reduce wrinkles and to correct facial lines. However, the botulinum toxin from which botox is derived has a long history of therapeutic uses in medicine. Because of its minimally invasive nature, the use of botox in dentistry is expanding to treat dental disorders, such as high lip lines, temporomandibular joint disorders, bruxism, adaptation of dentures that no longer fit correctly due to shifting muscles of the jaw.

Typical applications of botox in dental treatment

With proper training, dentists can use botox. At the ADENT dental clinic, Dr. Agnieszka Barańska is such a specialist. The use of botulinum toxin can help patients with the following issues:

  • bezzębna szczękaPatients with no teeth may benefit from botox when the position of the lip muscles has changed due to reduced vertical dimension. Prostheses do not always fit in such situations, and botox can help relax and retrain the muscles around the new denture, making the transition far more successful.
  • dziąsłowy uśmiechPatients with a high lip line may use botox to relax the lip muscles and achieve a lower, more aesthetic smile line. It is a popular option because the entire process is not very invasive and can provide more immediate results.
  • bóle mięśni żwaczyPatients with temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders can also benefit from botox injections. TMJ disorders can cause severe pain due to muscle overactivity, and treatment options in the past were limited. Now botox can relax these muscles, and dentists can offer fast and effective pain relief.
  • zgrzytanie zębamiBruxism can also be reduced through botox treatments by decreasing the force of the involved muscle contractions. These injections can serve as useful adjunct therapy to night appliances.

Of course, there are also many cosmetic benefits that botox can offer to patients, but dental patients throughout the country will soon have opportunities to find this kind of therapy to address all kinds of dental problems.

Why the use of botox in dentistry is gaining popularity

For more than a decade, before the introduction of Botox Cosmetics, Botox was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) only for certain procedures: strabismus, abnormal eye alignment and eyelid spasm. In aesthetic medicine it has been used for about 25 years.

As the medical community continued botox research, greater progress has been made. There are eight forms/serotypes of botulinum toxin and all are continually studied and tested. Now, for the first time, the use of botox is producing promising results for the dental community.

Three forms of type A botulinum toxin (Botox, Dysport, and Xeomin) and one form of type B (MyoBloc) are commercially available for various cosmetic and medical procedures. Because botox is minimally invasive, it becomes an excellent tool in certain dental procedures. In fact, botox has already been shown to help in treating muscle-generated dental conditions such as bruxism, clenching, masseter hypertrophy, temporomandibular joint disorders, and in treating functional or aesthetic dental conditions such as high lip lines, nasolabial folds, radial lip lines, and black triangles between teeth.

Common myths about botox

Despite the widespread use of Botox in recent years, there are still many misconceptions about this popular treatment. Here are some of the most common myths about Botox:

  • Botox injections lead to a frozen face — Many believe that botox will remove their ability to express emotions. Not true. Botox relaxes the muscles at the injection site. As long as you receive treatment from a qualified injector, you’ll still be able to display the full range of facial expression!

  • Botox is effective only for wrinkle removal — As will be seen soon, botox has clearly more applications than just reducing wrinkles on the face or lines. Besides aesthetic benefits for eyes and facial lines, botox has many additional medical uses, including in treating TMJ disorders, back and neck pain, hyperhidrosis, and even in treating migraines.

  • Botox injections are painful — For many people almost any procedure sounds painful. The term “injection” especially sounds like it would hurt. But with botox, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Most patients report that the injections feel more like a light pinch, if anything. To ensure comfort during the procedure, a local anesthetic such as Emla is used. That is all that is needed — no other anesthetic is required, and pain levels are very low.

  • Wrinkles will worsen if you stop getting botox — Another common myth is that once someone begins botox treatment, their wrinkles will appear worse after stopping treatment. On the contrary: botox will not worsen the formation of wrinkles. Instead, the wrinkles will simply return to how they looked before the treatment.

  • Botox treatments are toxic — The European Medicines Agency would not approve something that is toxic. With over 20 years of use for many conditions, Botox has a long and well-established safety record. If you’re still worried, know that it takes a dose over a hundred times greater than the standard cosmetic dose for botox to be toxic.

Also, dentists must undergo training and education before administering botox injections. It’s important to remember that regulations for botox use by dental hygienists and dentists differ by region — therefore, before treatment, one should check with local licensing boards to comply with relevant rules and regulations.

Since dentists are already fully equipped and experienced with much more dangerous and risky procedures than botox, this cosmetic procedure is an excellent addition to the dental office to meet patient needs.

Dentists across the country are beginning to seek training in botox.