Oral surgery - Botox treatment for TMD/facial pain

What is TMD/facial pain?

Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) is pain and discomfort as a result of problems with the jaw, jaw joint and or tension in the surrounding facial muscles. Some patients can experience face, neck pain and headaches.

What are the causes?

In many cases the exact cause is unclear, but some other factors can be:

• Injury to the jaw, nerves or muscles e.g. heavy blow, whiplash
• Presence of osteo or rheumatoid arthritis in the joint
• Stress
• Grinding of the teeth
• The muscles we use for eating and chewing and speaking being under constant strain with no period of relaxation.

What is Botox?

Botox is a type of sterile medication that has botulinum toxin as an active ingredient. Whilst the botox leaves your body very quickly, the effects will last from a few weeks to a few months, although this would be different for every patient.

How does Botox work?

Using a very fine sterile single use needle, the Botox is injected into the affected facial muscle from the outside of the face. This then reduces the strength in which the muscle contracts, therefore relaxing the muscle. This then stops the tightening pressure, leading to relief of symptoms. Local anaesthetic may be given prior to the procedure.

What to expect after treatment and are there any risks?

Botox will begin to work after a few days and full results may not be felt for up to 2 weeks. As the effects of the treatment wear off, symptoms may return and treatment may need to be repeated.

Treatment may not always work for some patients, which can highlight that there may be other contributing reasons to your pain and symptoms.

This medication has been shown to be very reliable and safe, although all medications do carry a risk of side effects:

• Stinging during injection
• Bruising
• The area injected may be red and slightly swollen
• Infection
• Slight bleeding
• Tingling or itchiness
• A more than expected relaxation of the facial muscles
• The appearance of your smile, function and movement of your mouth and how you eat and speak can be affected
• Flu like symptoms and headaches
• Whilst very rare there is always a small risk of an allergic reaction
• Light pain relief may be required i.e. Paracetamol may be required for up to 24 hours after the procedure.

Contact details

For appointment enquiries - 0161 206 4100
Email: Oral.surgery2@nca.nhs.uk