Greg:
Hey, this is Greg here from Big Bay Mornings on 99.7 Now. And I’m here with my a friend, board certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Bay. Hey, Dr. Bae.
Dr. Bae:
Hey, Greg.
Greg:
How’s the baby?
Dr. Bae:
Baby’s good. Baby’s sleeping through the night. I think slept seven hours last night. So the patients-
Greg:
Wow.
Dr. Bae:
… that see me on social media, when I come in the morning to pre-op them for surgery, they know that I’ve gotten a good night’s sleep now.
Greg:
Well, that’s funny you mentioned sleeping through the night. That’s a thing that a lot of people are having trouble during the pandemic doing. More anxiety causing more stress. And another thing coming with that, people are kind of grinding their teeth, and clenching their jaw. And that affects some issues in your cheeks and the way your jaw looks. And I know that you have some methods to maybe helping people if they have that issue.
TMJ and teeth grinding
Dr. Bae:
Yeah. Jaw clenching, or TMJ, which is the temporomandibular joint. That’s what people referred to TMJ when they have that pain right here. And that can be caused by congenital issues with the cartilages and the bone in that area. But it can also be just stress and grinding your teeth, and grinding your teeth at night when you’re sleeping, you don’t even realize it just from stress or whatever. And so people do come in asking for treatment for that. They’re trying to do a couple of things. One is if there’s a non-surgical way to do it, that’s what they’re interested in. And they want to do something that will help them to not clench their teeth as much. But also one of the things that they’re noticing is when they’re clenching their teeth, it’s making these muscles right here, called the masseter muscles, it’s making those kind of bulk up.
Dr. Bae:
Because in a way you’re kind of working out those muscles by grinding your teeth, and these muscles buck up. So they’re looking for a way to one, minimize the tension and the grinding in their teeth. And then also minimize those muscles. And one of the ways you can do that really simply is Botox. You can inject Botox right here into those muscles, masseter muscles. You ask the patient to clench down. And I feel where the peak of that muscle’s coming in. And then I just inject a … I usually start with 10 to 15 units per side, just one injection.
Botox for grinding teeth and TMJ
Dr. Bae:
And after one to three days, it starts to kick in. And then they can let me know, give me some feedback. Is it working for you? Is it working as effectively as you want? And they may need more in the future. But the idea is it really reduces the bulkiness of that muscle. And it actually gives them a nice heart shaped face. I notice a lot of Asian women come in for that, because they feel like they have a very square jaw line. And they come in and they get Botox here. They’re not even having grinding issues or TMJ issues. We just do the Botox right here, it reduces the size of that muscle. It gives them a nice heart shaped face. Pretty effective.
Greg:
Well, that’s so interesting you say that. Because I do have that issue. I’m grinding a lot more at night. I thought the only solution really was to get a mouth guard. And those can just be … It’s not sexy, number one, when you’re going to bed with your partner. Number two, it’s all the saliva. And it’s just kind of uncomfortable, and the grossness of it. So I think this is a really great alternative where you’re not, [inaudible 00:03:02], in the middle of the night.
Are you a candidate?
Dr. Bae:
Right. Right. And obviously I can’t guarantee it’s going to work for everybody. Just like people talk about getting Botox for migraines. Not everybody’s necessarily a candidate. It won’t necessarily work for them. But same thing here with clenching of the teeth, it’s certainly a reasonable thing. If you’ve tried the mouth guard and you don’t really like the way that looks, that headgear look that you might’ve had when you had braces when you were a kid. If you want to try another option, then yeah, Botox right here. And you don’t lose anything. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. It’s fine. You don’t burn any bridges in the process.
Greg:
Yeah. And it’s an affordable way to go about it.
Dr. Bae:
Correct.
Greg:
Even if it doesn’t end up working for you.
Dr. Bae:
Right. What I just described would probably be about $300 to $450 to do that injection. Which I mean, I’m not saying it’s no money. But it’s not as maybe as expensive as some other options out there.
Greg:
Oh my God.
Dr. Bae:
And certainly-
Greg:
And I mean, listen-
Dr. Bae:
… it’s not surgical.
Greg:
Listen, look at the people’s Amazon accounts. That’s nothing with what they’re buying.
Dr. Bae:
Exactly.
Greg:
I mean, how many times have you really used that Jimmy Buffett margarita machine you bought during the pandemic? Not that many. So this is a great option, an affordable option for you. So if you’ve got questions about that or other things, you can always reach out to Dr. Bae on his social media, which is-
Dr. Bae:
@realdrbae, R-E-A-L-B-A-E. Not B-A-Y on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and realdrbae.com. You know where to find me.
Greg:
All right. Thanks. Good to see you Dr. Bae.
Dr. Bae:
Thank you. Great seeing you, Greg. Thank you.
