- The masseter is a muscle on the side of the face
that basically helps our mouth to open and close,
helps us with chewing, helps us with talking.
A lot of people tend to really clench
their jaw a lot and they push down,
bite down on their teeth and that strengthens
the masseter muscles.
And over time they start to become bigger
and bigger and it actually changes the shape of their face.
It can make the jaw line quite square
but moreso it can actually even damage their teeth
and they'll have dental bills,
thousands of dollars because they've caused
damage to their teeth.
It's one of those things that happens often
as we're holding some tension.
You know if we're worried about things,
if we're stressed about things,
even during the night we can be clenching
down on our jaw while we're asleep
and that muscle is just getting stronger
and stronger and stronger.
- I feel like I look masculine I think
especially with the jaw line.
It seems to be getting sharper as I get older.
- I've always felt quite full in the face
and I'm quite a petite person and I make
no secret at the moment that I'm searching for a husband.
(laughter)
I'm kidding, but I've been dating and everything.
I've actually been awkwardly told
that my face looks quite full.
- When I see pictures of myself,
especially photos coming up on Facebook,
you're never really posing so much for those,
it makes me feel pretty uncomfortable.
I don't think I'm ugly but I would like
to look a little bit more feminine.
- I've always felt really tight
in the jaw and I've tried physio treatment
and going to the dentist and I've been
given mouth guards that have cost a lot of money
which I don't wear because they're not exactly
the most flattering thing to wear to bed.
(laughter)
Well they're okay when you're single
but if you meet someone.
- The masseter muscle runs down the side here.
It inserts up around this area and comes down.
I mark out where the masseter is and you can
see it quite clearly here, clench for me.
And you can see it there you can feel it as well.
I don't like to go much further than
two to three centimeters towards the front.
If we come too far this way we risk hitting
some of the muscles that are involved in the smile.
And I'm feeling where the bulk of the strength
of the muscle is, clench again.
You can see it there, clench again.
It's a little bit weaker back here
so we're going to pop a little bit less here.
Clench, yeah.
So the great think with the muscle relaxant injections
is it softens the bulk of the muscle
so it looks leaner but it is also actually reducing
the amount of tension that's happening on the jaw bone,
so over time if people can have this done repeatedly
the muscle will stay weaker.
The bone itself actually starts to change shape,
and the bone because the tension is not happening
on the bone all the time it actually remodels
and I've seen jaw lines soften,
they become less square, so it's really great.
Sometimes people will be much stronger on one side,
one masseter sticks right out compared to the other side,
so I'll sometimes do 10 or 15 units more
on one side compared to the other side.
It's really a matter of just seeing how
the muscles respond and then when I review you
in three four weeks time we'll then judge
and if one side is still a lot stronger
we'll just top it up a little bit more in there.
- Okay thank you.
- Okay.
Anti wrinkle injections are also what we call
muscle relaxant injections so by injecting
into the muscle it actually can weaken some parts
of that muscle.
Of course we're not going to completely weaken it.
You are able to talk and chew and do all of those
normal activities but it just reduces the strength
of the muscle as it's starting to take
effect you can actually really notice
every time you use your jaw muscle and you actually
don't realize how often you're using it
and how often you're clenching it.
It's like when you've been to the gym
and you've done a different exercise
and you go oh gosh I didn't realize I use
that muscle so much, same sort of thing with the jaw,
and then it will just slowly kick in.
It actually takes a little bit longer
than other treatments with anti wrinkle injections,
it may take up to a full month to take full effect.
- I didn't expect to see such a difference
especially here because all the photos
of my previously were quite square,
it has stopped me grinding my teeth during the day
and at night I haven't had any pain
from teeth grinding at night time
it seems to have really slowed that down
which is another bonus.
Probably after about four weeks your jaw
does get a bit weaker and if I'm kind of be
chewing and kind of like oh god,
it's not painful it just feels weaker.
- I'm really happy with the result through the masseters.
Obviously feeling more confident and yeah
being on a date and now I'm in a relationship,
so I'm happy.