Dr. Herzog Discusses Botox Treatment For TMJ Pain
Today’s post is one that I hope helps others who are suffering from TMJ pain and who might benefit from botox injections. My 16-year-old daughter developed TMJ six months ago, and after trying various treatments, she was still in severe pain. Dr. Herzog assessed Jud’s situation and used dysport (a form of botox) to try and eliminate the pain. After two visits and two separate injections, Jud is virtually pain free. Dr. Herzog explains below how she treated Jud. For those who want to hear Dr. Herzog explaining the procedure, a video clip is below.
Dr. Jo Herzog
Using Botox or Similar Toxins for TMJ Pain: Jud’s Story
Jamie’s daughter, Mary Judson, had been having jaw and facial pain for several months. Initially, Jud saw a dentist and an oral surgeon to assess where the pain was coming from. She was then sent to an endodontist to see if a root canal were needed, thinking that this might be tooth pain. After extensive testing, the endodontist felt that this pain was caused by TMJ and not by any problem with her tooth.
She was then sent for physical therapy for TMJ but experienced minimal relief that was short lived. Jamie came to me and explained what was going on with Jud and how frustrated she was that Jud was not getting relief. Although I had never treated a teenager for TMJ, I decided to take a stab at it (no pun intended) to see whether we could relieve her pain. I decided to use Dysport because it diffuses a little more widely than Botox, and I wanted to take advantage of this property.
I examined Jud to see where her pain was most intense and asked her several questions, including whether she was a tooth grinder. She told me that she did grind at night but that her pain was only on one side and was higher up on the face (in front of the TMJ joint). We decided to start by treating one side of her face to see what results would be.
After one session, Jud had a huge amount of improvement but still had some occasional pain. We decided to add a bit more Dysport and to also treat her chewing muscles on the other side of her face so that she would nor compensate and then overuse them, causing pain on that side of growth of those muscles.
When Jud returned for that second visit, I was amazed at how the Dysport had already shrunken her masseter muscles and changed her jawline from a square to a smooth narrow line. We think that the second set of injections will similarly change the jawline on the other side. Jud’s second visit was on a Thursday, and 4 days later (the following Monday), Jud reported that she was virtually pain free.
I hope that more people will start thinking about using this simple treatment to relieve the pain of TMJ.
Hope this helps someone out there,
Be well,
Dr. Jo
