You know that gorgeous man you recently broke up with who was perfect in every way except his TOTAL unavailability? And it’s SUPER annoying and sad and makes you angry and heartbroken it didn’t work out…and you go through the what ifs and the whys before sleep and then wake up in the morning with your jaw clenched and aching?
No? Okay, maybe that’s just me.
But hey! There’s plenty of stress to go around. How about that financial stress of a fat mortgage or a loan payment? Or maybe that guilt that you’re not spending enough time with your kids and feeling like a “bad mom” because you didn’t cook amazing dinners last week or you haven’t driven the cheer carpool in awhile? Or maybe you’ve got all of that going on.
You get the picture. Life’s stresses. I’m clenching my teeth right now writing this. Seriously, I keep massaging the right side of my face.
Recently I was at my doctor’s office for an unrelated issue and she looked in my mouth and said, “You’re wearing a night guard right?”
No. No, I am not.
And she said, “You are way too young to have teeth like that. If you keep grinding your teeth like that you’re not gonna have anything left!” Awesome. I’m sure I did some damage on my teeth that night just worrying about that! I left thinking about how I didn’t wanna go get fitted for a night guard and have that football gear in my mouth while I sleep. But then a brilliant thought occurred. Somewhere in the back of my head was a memory, a stored tidbit of information: I think Botox can help to help alleviate that constant muscle tension!
It sure can. Botox injections can be placed into the jaw muscles to help relax those muscles and greatly lessen the extreme clenching and grinding motions that cause the symptoms of TMJ disorders.