For many people it is an annoying issue: they grind their teeth at night. So far, a bite splint has been the most helpful, but treatment with Botox is becoming increasingly popular. We did the test.
Many people know it: you wake up in the morning and your jaw muscles hurt. “I guess I processed something again during the night,” is what people often say. In other words, teeth were grinded while sleeping.
Around 20 percent of Germans start grinding between the ages of 20 and 30, according to the Techniker Krankenkasse. And if left untreated, this can sometimes have dire consequences.
One of the main causes of teeth grinding is stress
When you grind, or bruxism, you tense your jaw muscles and rub your teeth against each other. Forces of up to 800 Newtons act on the jaw – that’s almost 81 kilograms. “The cause is often stress,” explains Dr.-medic stom. (RO) Diana Svoboda MSc, medical director of the diPura dental clinic in Essen in an interview with EXPRESS.de.
“In addition, anxiety disorders, excessive consumption of nicotine, caffeine, alcohol or drug abuse as well as sleep disorders such as snoring can also be reasons.” Pathological teeth grinding often occurs during sleep, but is also possible during the day. A distinction is made between sleep and awake bruxism.
If you don’t do anything about jaw grinding, you will damage your teeth in the long term. Diana Svoboda: “By rubbing against each other, the tooth substance is increasingly worn down and lost. The teeth become more sensitive and the facial muscles become tense and hardened, which can be painful. Those affected can undergo physiotherapy for the jaw, whereby progressive muscle relaxation according to Jacobsen (PMR) can be used to relieve tension and reduce stress. Mindfulness training can also help you relieve your teeth grinding on your own.”
However, bruxism can also have a protective function, for example with snoring or heartburn, the so-called reflux, in which stomach acid flows back into the esophagus. “When you snore, bruxism can cause the chewing muscles to tense and keep the airways open. This allows the snorer to breathe better. When you have heartburn, the muscle activity of crunching increases the flow of saliva, which reduces the acidic effect of stomach acid,” says Diana Svoboda.
These measures can help against teeth grinding
The most common solution to the annoying grinding: a bite splint. You can have these made at your dentist. “This special dental splint is the classic against night-time teeth grinding and protects against wear and tear on the tooth structure. But not only dental splints can provide relief, botulinum toxin (Botox) is also being used relatively recently,” says the dentist.
“The injection allows the jaw muscles to relax. However, in order to maintain the effect, the treatment must be repeated after a few months. In contrast to the bite splint, this treatment is not financed by health insurance companies,” she explains.
Botox for grinding
At “Love Your Face” in Bochum we do the test: Botox for grinding – does it really help? “Botox has long been used in pain therapy, not only for bruxism treatment, but also for migraines,” explains Dr. med. Dasha Berek. “When treating teeth grinding, Botox, which is a muscle relaxant, is injected into the jaw muscle in three places.”
This relaxes the muscle, you no longer grind, and as a side effect, your face can become narrower – because the jaw muscle becomes smaller due to the relaxation. The injections sting a bit, but are not too painful. After a few seconds it’s over.
These are the costs – and the risks
However, treatment with Botox also has risks: “Temporary bruising can occur. If you inject too much, you may experience muscle soreness-like symptoms when eating. In rare cases, there is an excess production of saliva or difficulty chewing,” the doctor points out.
Asymmetries are also possible because the injections cause the jaw muscle, which is often very pronounced in extreme grinders, to relax and become smaller. However, Botox breaks down again after three to six months – with possible complications.
For Dr. Very important to Berek: “It always requires a holistic clarification. Jaw problems can have various causes and before you have Botox treated, you should make sure that you actually grind and that the problems have no other cause.”
And: With the injections you only treat the pain and not the stress. So anyone who grinds should not only do something about the symptoms, but also about the causes. You should clarify with your doctor beforehand whether treatment with Botox makes sense and is the right approach.
Treatment for grinding: what else is important?
Pregnant and breastfeeding mothers should not have Botox injected, says the expert. Before the treatment you should not drink alcohol for 48 hours (it thins the blood), you should be healthy, have eaten well and drink well. You should avoid exercise and sun for 48 hours after treatment.
Cooling helps against any swelling that may arise from the punctures. It takes up to two weeks for the treatment to take full effect. But after just a few days we notice a difference – but nothing is visibly noticeable. After two weeks, the annoying jaw pain is completely gone and the muscle feels much softer. A real relief in everyday life. However, such a Botox treatment is not exactly cheap. You have to shell out 300 euros. As a rule, the treatment only lasts three to six months – then it has to be injected again.
By Alexandra Miebach (mie)