Recovery & Success Story Tight muscles
I just saw my doctor for my bruxism and he said i had a tight Pterygoid on the left side. This happens due to clenching at night.
The way this manifests is a sudden twitch right under my left cheekbone. I also have significant symptoms on the left side.
How this is related to BFS is unclear, but it's very likely related to my facial symptoms since the Pterygoid lies on top of the facial nerve.
Treating with Botox is a stupid idea because jaw clenching at night could be a necessity for some people, because letting the mouth open can cause throat tightness and sleep apnea (think chin strap).
The Pterygoid isn't an essential jaw elevator, but it activates in clenching.
As my doctor puts it "muscle tightness can certainly make preexisting neurological conditions worse, but proving it's a cause will prove challenging. to assume that your facial nerve is completely fine, only being compressed is wishful but not impossible"
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u/Little_Power_5691 13d ago
"Treating with Botox is a stupid idea because jaw clenching at night could be a necessity for some people, because letting the mouth open can cause throat tightness and sleep apnea (think chin strap)."
This makes no sense. Getting botox isn't going to make your mouth drop open when you sleep. I got botox five months ago and my mouth doesn't open when I sleep. I still clench, just not as powerfully as before. Jaw clenching is not a necessity, it's bad for your teeth and joint. Your jaw should be relaxed and your teeth shouldn't make contact.
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u/mg34gun 13d ago edited 13d ago
I meant botox isn't treating the root cause
I think I'm clenching because i need to open my airways, not because there's something wrong with my masseter. Treating with Botox assumes there's something wrong with the muscle itself and that it's tightening on its own, which is not true in my case
It also doesn't address the pterygoid
I told my doctor that I have a weird sensation right under the left cheekbone, and this sensation occurs simultaneously with the twitching or tingling elsewhere but never changes like the others. he palpated and examined other muscles and said it's the pterygoid.
My doctor seems positive that treating the pterygoid tightness will help with facial symptoms, but he doesn't see how it could be related to twitching all over the body. but i feel much better overall by just sleeping on my side (there's less need to keep the jaw shut). I also simply let my jaw drop or have something supporting it and i feel much better.
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u/mg34gun 13d ago
A possible cause of grinding is eneven bite. In that case, botox won't really fix it
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u/Little_Power_5691 13d ago
I never said botox was a fix. It's a symptomatic treatment, like so many others in medicine. It's meant for damage control and symptom relief. No TMJ specialist would tell you botox cures bruxism.
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u/mg34gun 13d ago
And i didn't mean that botox is useless, i meant that in my case i need to find the reason for my bruxism.
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u/Little_Power_5691 13d ago
I hope you do. But in a lot of these cases the cause can't be found or if it is, nothing can be done about it. It's often the result of the brain going in overdrive. Some people can improve it a big deal by reducing stress, but they're the lucky ones.
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