Botox® May Treat Nighttime Teeth Grinding

A small study suggested that Botox® can possibly help prevent teeth grinding at night.
Rachel Rettner detailed the extent of this study in a 2012 Live Science article.

Up to 15 percent of people experience nocturnal bruxism, or nighttime teeth grinding, which can cause damage to the teeth as well as causing headaches and pain in the jaw area. The patients that participated in the study all struggled with nocturnal bruxism and after receiving Botox® injections, they reported improvements in their condition.

University of Texas professor of neurology, Dr. William Ondo, served as a researcher for this study and said that the study’s findings suggest that Botox® could serve as a treatment for nighttime teeth grinding if larger studies were conducted and had similar results.

A new larger study was presented in 2012 at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting in hopes of confirming the results from the original study. This research examined 23 patients with nocturnal bruxism and randomly assigned them to receive either a Botox® injection or a placebo injection. Patients were then evaluated in an overnight sleep study to confirm that they had issues with nightly teeth grinding.

The Botox® injection was given in the temple and the jaw of 13 patients, while the other 10 received the placebo injection in the same areas. After four weeks, the study’s participants were asked to rate the severity of their condition, which was narrowed down to three options – if they felt better, worse, or the same as before.

The 13 patients who received Botox® did not have significant changes in their sleep patterns or the severity of their headaches. A cosmetic change in smile was seen in two of the patients.

Botox® is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a treatment for nocturnal bruxism. But with the drug being approved for other uses, it can be used as an “off label” treatment which Dr. Ondo said he has been using with nocturnal bruxism patients for 20 years.

Dr. Ondo said that in order for companies manufacturing botulinum toxin to get FDA approval for the treatment of nocturnal bruxism, they need to conduct their own large trials to submit to the FDA.

The American Academy of Facial Esthetics (AAFE) offers extensive botulinum toxin training courses which teach injectable safety protocols and anatomically based techniques that healthcare professionals can add to their practice. The AAFE also offers comprehensive courses on Frontline Bruxism and Dental Sleep, which teaches dentists and healthcare professionals how to integrate dental sleep medicine and bruxism treatment into their practice.