A treatment room at J'adoreAESTHETIC MEDICINE
Do you wake up with pain in your temples, feel tension in your jaw, and hear from your dentist that you're wearing down your teeth? These are classic signs of bruxism — habitual, usually nocturnal, clenching and grinding of the teeth.
One heavily overworked muscle is behind most of it: the masseter. Botulinum toxin treatment temporarily relaxes this muscle — it clenches with less force, so the pain fades and your teeth are no longer exposed to the crushing force of grinding. As a bonus, when an enlarged masseter shrinks, the lower face becomes narrower and softer. This is a medical treatment with two goals at once: therapeutic and aesthetic. At J'adore Instytut it's performed by an aesthetic medicine doctor. Here's everything worth knowing before your first visit.
1 session, repeated periodically
What is bruxism
Bruxism is habitual, usually unconscious clenching and grinding of the teeth — typically at night, though it can happen during the day too. It stems from a mix of causes: stress and emotional tension, bite misalignment, a learned habit, and sometimes neurological factors.
The problem rarely stops at the teeth. An overworked masseter — that powerful muscle at the angle of the jaw you can feel when you clench your teeth — announces itself with morning headaches (often at the temples), jaw pain and tension, clicking in the temporomandibular joint, neck pain, and eventually visible muscle hypertrophy: the lower face takes on a "square" shape. On top of that comes real damage to the teeth — enamel wear, cracked fillings, sensitivity.
That's why treating bruxism with botulinum toxin is above all about protecting your health — less pain, less damage to your teeth — while also, as a side effect, improving facial proportions. Two goals, one treatment: therapeutic (pain, tooth protection) and aesthetic (a slimmer lower face, a softer contour).
How it works
The mechanism is elegantly simple. Botulinum toxin injected into the masseter temporarily limits the nerve signal that tells it to clench. The muscle isn't "switched off" — it still works, but with less force, so it can no longer clench as hard as before. It acts only at the injection site.
This brings two benefits at once. First, pain eases: less tension means fewer morning headaches and less jaw pain, and your teeth are no longer exposed to the crushing force of nighttime grinding. Second, a muscle working more gently gradually shrinks a little (a natural atrophy from reduced use) — and a smaller masseter means a narrower, softer lower face and a more "heart-shaped" contour.
Scale matters here. The masseter is a large, very strong muscle — far more powerful than the small mimetic muscles of the forehead or eye area. That's why relaxing it requires larger doses of toxin than treating ordinary expression lines — and this is one reason for the difference in price (more on this in the section on products below).
It's the doctor who decides whether the treatment is right for you and what dose to give — after examining the tension and size of your masseters and reviewing your health history and current medications. There's no single universal dose: muscle strength can even differ between the two sides of your face, and the plan is built around your specific anatomy. It's also worth remembering that teeth clenching can be a symptom rather than a standalone diagnosis — if it's caused by a bite misalignment, a temporomandibular joint issue, or a neurological cause, you'll need input from a dentist or neurologist too. Botulinum toxin then works alongside specialist care: it reduces the force with which the muscle clenches, but it doesn't replace identifying the underlying cause.
Interesting fact: the same toxin that smooths the forehead does something apparently opposite in the masseter — instead of "erasing" a wrinkle, it slims the face. It works the same way everywhere: it calms an overactive muscle. Here, the muscle is simply large, so the effect shows up in the facial contour.
AESTHETIC MEDICINE
This is the most common worry before treatment — and it's not true. The toxin doesn't "paralyse" the masseter. The muscle still works, just with less force — and normal eating doesn't require the maximum, crushing force of a clench (the same force that damages teeth at night).
Everyday meals — bread, meat, vegetables, fruit — you can eat normally, without any discomfort. The only sensible advice concerns unusually hard foods: nuts in their shells, tough rinds, raw carrot bitten for a "crunch", hard sweets or ice. It's best to avoid these for around two weeks, while the muscle adapts to its new, gentler way of working. After that, full eating comfort returns.
From the doctor's chair
"Won't I be able to chew?" — I hear this before almost every treatment. My answer is always the same: day to day, you probably use only a fraction of your masseter's full strength — the rest gets used at night, unconsciously, wearing down your teeth. Botox removes that excess, destructive force. Normal eating stays exactly as it is.
Some people initially notice a temporary sense of "weaker" chewing — this is a normal part of adapting and it passes on its own. It's not a loss of function, but a new, healthier level of muscle tension.
Ideal for
We often perform this treatment in coordination with dental care — Botox and a splint aren't mutually exclusive; they reinforce each other. Final qualification is decided by the doctor after examining masseter tension.
The female zone and the male zone
Pain relief is usually accompanied by a welcome aesthetic effect: the lower face becomes noticeably slimmer, the jawline softens, and the contour takes on a more "heart-shaped" appearance. For many patients, that's two benefits in one — this is classic bruxism in women, where slimming is often an equally important, or sometimes the main, reason for the visit.
The areas we support
Here, masseters tend to be stronger and more developed, so the dose needed for results is usually higher. The main focus is the therapeutic goal — reducing pain and protecting the teeth — while any slimming effect is discreet. This matters because bruxism in men is often underestimated, yet it can damage teeth, disrupt sleep and cause chronic headaches for years.
The areas we support
Contraindications
Some contraindications are permanent, others temporary — in the latter case, we simply postpone the treatment until the situation resolves.
From the doctor's chair
The thing people most often forget: herpes. Patients often think, "it's only on my lip, and the treatment is on my jaw — that shouldn't matter." It does matter — an active virus is a risk regardless of where it appears. Better to postpone by a few days.
This isn't a complete list — final qualification is decided by the doctor during the consultation, after reviewing your medications, medical history and previous treatments. Masseter Botox itself has been used for decades and is a well-understood, safe procedure; rare side effects, such as a temporary asymmetric smile, come down to injection technique — which is why the experience of the person performing it matters.
The visit
Medical consultation
the doctor palpates the masseters (asking you to clench your teeth to assess muscle size and strength), takes a history of your symptoms and medications, and establishes whether your main goal is pain relief, slimming, or both.
Preparation
the skin is cleansed and disinfected; anaesthesia usually isn't needed, but numbing cream can be applied on request.
Micro-injections
the toxin is delivered with a fine needle into several points on each side of the jaw, directly into the masseter. After injection, the doctor gently massages the injection sites.
Guidance and departure
a short visit, just a quarter of an hour or so; you return to your normal day immediately, with nothing visible on your face.
Follow-up after the treatment
assessing the result once it has settled, with a minor top-up if needed.
What to expect
The key point: the effect appears in stages, not all at once. The two goals of the treatment have two different timelines — and it's good to know this in advance.
Patients sometimes write: "a week has passed and my face still looks the same." This is normal — pain relief comes before you notice any slimming. A more sculpted lower face is the result of an enlarged muscle shrinking, and that takes time. With very strong masseters, the full aesthetic result may only become clear after a further series.
Portfolio
A record of the work in our salons — the place where we publish treatment frames and, after photo sessions, results.
A record of results — in preparation. We publish photographs of our clients only with their consent.
The effect usually lasts a few months, after which the muscle gradually returns to its former activity — that's when the treatment is repeated. Importantly, after several series the masseter often "learns" to work more calmly and stays smaller for longer, so the intervals between treatments can be extended.
Bruxism and your lifestyle
The restrictions are minimal and mostly apply to the first 24 hours. The point is to avoid displacing the product within the muscle and to reduce the risk of bruising during that early window.
Avoid chewing gum and very hard food for the first few days. Hold off on the hardest foods (nuts in shells, raw carrots, ice) for around two weeks. You can eat normal meals with no restrictions.
Avoid firm massage of the jaw and face for about a day, to prevent displacing the product within the muscle.
Postpone intense exercise for around a day — significantly increased circulation can encourage bruising.
High temperatures dilate blood vessels and increase swelling — it's best to wait one to two days before a sauna, hammam or hot bath.
Alcohol dilates blood vessels and increases the risk of bruising — it's best avoided on the day of the treatment.
Schedule a Kobido facial massage after the Botox (with some interval, not right afterwards), rather than before — to avoid disturbing how the product distributes within the muscle.
Bruxism treatment
Price list
Bruxism treatment — masseters
therapeutic and/or slimming goal
Choose the area and the salon — book online straight away.
Warsaw, Żelazna 59
Prefer to call? Żelazna 573 569 431 · Mińska 732 228 806 · Karmelicka 732 228 846
See also
AESTHETIC MEDICINEBotox — expression linesSee treatment: Botox — expression lines
AESTHETIC MEDICINEHyperhidrosis treatmentSee treatment: Hyperhidrosis treatment
AESTHETIC MEDICINEVolumetrySee treatment: Volumetry
AESTHETIC MEDICINEPDO threads / thread liftSee treatment: PDO threads / thread lift
AESTHETIC MEDICINEGummy smile treatmentSee treatment: Gummy smile treatment
AESTHETIC MEDICINEMedical consultation / dermatologySee treatment: Medical consultation / dermatologyThe result lasts4–6 months (longer after a series)J’adore Instytut
Medical information. Botulinum toxin type A used to treat bruxism is a medicinal product; this is a medical procedure performed only by a doctor. The text above is for information only and does not constitute advertising of a medicinal product or medical advice. Indications, product and dose selection, and contraindications are determined by the doctor during an individual consultation.
