Botox® vs. Mouthguard for Teeth Grinding

Do you wake in the morning with sore jaws? Does your bedmate complain of lack of sleep due to your noisy teeth grinding? 

More than 70% of dentists across the United States report an increase in patients who are grinding their teeth and clenching their jaws, which is also called bruxism. And it’s little wonder given that stress levels are at all-time highs in the US, with nearly a quarter of adults saying their stress ranks between 8 and 10 on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is very little stress. 

Whatever is driving your teeth grinding and clenching, it’s important to treat the condition because it can prematurely wear down your teeth and lead to other issues, such as facial and head pain.

Here at Silverlake Smiles, Dr. Juliet Ebrahimian and our team offer two great solutions for bruxism — mouthguards and Botox® — and we dive into each here.

Mouthguards to protect your teeth

A frontline treatment option for bruxism is mouthguards, which are also called nightguards. These devices are custom made to fit snugly over the top row of your teeth to create a barrier between your upper and lower teeth.

Not only does a mouthguard prevent you from grinding your teeth, it also relieves the pressure on your temporomandibular joints by creating some space and relieving the tension in your jaw.

Mouthguards are incredibly easy to use, and you can take them anywhere, which makes them a popular option. 

Furthermore, if you take good care of your mouthguard, it can provide relief from teeth grinding for years.

How Botox tackles teeth grinding

Next up is a completely different approach to bruxism — Botox. The active ingredient in Botox is botulinum toxin A, which temporarily paralyzes your muscles. 

We inject Botox into the muscles that control your jaw, including your masseters and temporalis muscles. By quieting these muscles, we can minimize your ability to clench your jaw and grind your teeth.

Botox injections typically last for 4-6 months, at which point you return to have us administer another round of quick-and-easy injections.

Which teeth grinding solution is right for you?

This is a tough question to answer, as we feel both bruxism treatments have merit. We’ve seen firsthand how effective both Botox and mouthguards are for protecting your teeth and jaws, so it really comes down to which one would work best for your lifestyle.

For example, if you’re prone to misplacing things, such as mouthguards, you may want to opt for Botox. As well, your mouthguard requires daily action on your part — you have to put it in each night before bed and clean it in the morning.

So, in terms of ease of use, some people prefer Botox because, after the treatment, there’s nothing more that needs to be done.

That said, Botox works well for many people, but not all, whereas a mouthguard works across the board for most cases of teeth grinding.

Ultimately, the decision is yours to make, and you should choose one that best suits your life. You could also try one to see if it works and, if it falls short, we can turn to the other. So, it’s a good thing that we have more than one option for bruxism.

The best place to start is to schedule an appointment with us so we can evaluate your teeth grinding and come up with a good treatment plan.

To get started, please contact our Los Angeles office. We serve the Silver Lake neighborhood and areas of Los Feliz, Atwater Village, Frogtown, and Echo Park.