Earlier this summer, my dentist had some bad news: My teeth were showing signs of something called protusive wear. As a person who just had their first cavity just a year ago (and never, ever had braces, retainers, ect—brag, I know), I needed the news translated. In layman’s terms, Michael Apa, DDS, said I was grinding my front teeth.
This wasn’t a total surprise. During my first-ever Botox appointment at age 29, double board-certified plastic surgeon David Shafer, MD, FACS, probed the contours of my face and diagnosed me with overly strong masseter, or jaw, muscles. Clenching your masseter muscle can lead to a host of aesthetic and structural issues: widening of the lower face, tension headaches, or in extreme cases, a locked jaw. And, of course, damaged or even chipped teeth, called bruxism.
That’s when Dr. Shafer introduced me to masseter Botox—an off-label use of the neurotoxin, which would temporarily paralyze the muscle and weaken it—a few painless pokes, and I was hooked. I noticed a slimming of the bottom half of my face, along with a gradual drop in how often I noticed I was holding my teeth clenched tight. In the five or so years since, I’ve had a twice-yearly appointment at Dr. Shafer’s amethyst-adorned Fifth Avenue Clinic.
But this year, I’ve been on a mission to find out the why behind the way my body works—teeth clenching included, which means I’ve been cold-turkey on jaw botox for almost a year. The grinding came back with a vengeance, and then some. Along my long and grinding road, I tried a buccal massage at the hands of facialist Riley Welch.
A buccal massage is a non-invasive treatment designed to relieve facial tension by massaging both the inside and outside of your mouth simultaneously. It’s a bit like assisted stretching for your cheeks and jaw—sometimes, a stretch feels oh-so-good; other times, it’s a bit more painful than you’d think. “There’s this hidden world that can be discovered and released,” Welch tells me after she pops on a pair of blue medical gloves. “Not only can a buccal massage relieve tension in the jaw and facial muscles, but there’s also this acupressure point under the cheek muscle called the ‘facelift’ point. It raises your overall chi, which makes you look more youthful, but also triggering it can help lift the face muscle.” There’s another benefit, too: A lymphatic sculpt. My undereyes also looked less puffy, and my cheekbones seemed better defined
My face feels—loose isn’t the right word, exactly—perhaps lithe? It’s not something I’m particularly used to, but I want to keep it going. When I visit SYI Acupuncture, the first thing Saher Hussaini does is take a look at my tongue, noting the purple-ish color and scalloped edges, all of which confirms that I am holding stress and tension in my body. And while I might be complaining about my jaw, Hussaini notes that it’s all connected—and accessory muscles need to be de-stressed, too. “We’re going to insert a few acupuncture needles directly into your masseter, but work on your meridian points throughout the body as well to support the free flow of chi, circulate blood, and break up inflammation.” I sleep through almost our entire session, so I guess the energy was moved.
“It’s not the end of the world,” Dr. Apa says after pointing out the front eight teeth or so had begun to flatten because of the grinding. “But would I prescribe you a night guard right away? Yes.” So he got to work: Placing a 3-D scanner in my mouth to take a few quick photos, and I was out the door. A few weeks later, the retainer arrived on my doorstep. It was hard plastic and fit snugly onto my teeth.
