Ultrasound Masseter Injections

Ultrasound Masseter Injections Melbourne

Ultrasound technology allows for more accurate placement of muscle relaxant injections, improving safety and patient outcomes.

Not only can these injections be used for cosmetic purposes, they can also be used to ease the pain associated with temporomandibular joint disorders, more commonly known as TMJ disorders or TMD.

If you are grinding your teeth or regularly getting headaches, this treatment may be able to assist you.

While everyone has masseter muscles, their exact size, shape, and placement is unique to each individual. In order to provide truly individualised treatment, Dr Jaclyn Wong uses ultrasound to guide the placement of muscle relaxants.

Using Ultrasound to Plan Masseter Injections

Masseter muscle relaxant injections are traditionally performed “blind”. The person administering the injection must simply rely on their medical knowledge of the area and professional experience they’ve acquired to know where to place the injection.

This can result in complications if the injection is not placed in an ideal location in the muscle, or interferes with surrounding structures within the jaw.

In order to properly plan the injection site, Dr Jaclyn Wong uses a handheld ultrasound to scan the masseter muscles prior to injection. This allows her to see the inner structures of the muscle itself, the limits of the muscle, and its relationship to the surrounding jaw.

Armed with this information, Dr Wong can then plan an appropriate and individualised plan that minimises risks to the patient and targets the correct areas.

Dr Wong can also monitor the outcomes of treatment with serial measurements of masseter muscle bulk/thickness using ultrasound. This provides an objective measure of treatment effects.

Using Ultrasound During Injection Placement

The use of ultrasound doesn’t stop during planning.

To ensure the injection is carried out appropriately, Dr Wong continues to monitor the muscle during the actual injection. This allows real-time monitoring of the position and depth of the needle in the muscle.

Real-time monitoring with ultrasound helps Dr Wong make sure the masseter injection is in the correct part of the muscle while avoiding hazardous areas.

Book an appointment
or ask a question

Leave your details here and a member of our team will be in touch momentarily.

Benefits of Ultrasound Guided Muscle Relaxant Injections

The masseter muscle is crucial for helping us bite, chew, and talk. It’s important to ensure injections are accurate to prevent cosmetic and functional problems from occurring.

Some of the issues which can occur following a poorly placed masseter injection include:

Asymmetrical smiles. This is when masseter injections paralyse adjacent muscles, resulting in constrained or unnatural facial expressions. The most common outcome is a smile that is shorter on one side than the other.
Xerostomia (dry mouth). Poorly placed injections can impact the Parotid Gland, reducing salivary flow.
Paradoxical Masseteric Bulging (PMB). When muscle relaxant doesn’t evenly distribute through the masseter muscle, the remaining active sections can become overactive. This results in sections of the muscle bulging as they overcompensate. This, however, can occur during a course of treatment and will usually be corrected with top up doses to relax the remaining active portion of the masseter muscle.

Smile asymmetry and xerostomia can last 3 weeks or longer, with no real treatment options to reverse the symptoms. Only time and “wearing off” of the muscle relaxant will correct the issue.

Ultrasound masseter injections can greatly reduce the risk of these complications occurring, ensuring optimal outcomes for patients. Seeing the position of the needle in the muscle allows precise placement of the injection, avoiding areas that could cause complications and targeting areas that will give the best results.

Ultrasound Masseter Injections in Melbourne

If you need muscle relaxant injections in your jaw, be it for cosmetic, pain relief reasons or to prevent recurrent breakage of teeth/bridges, contact Dr Jaclyn Wong’s team today. Dr Wong uses ultrasound guided masseter injections to ensure her patients get the safest, most accurate injections possible.

Hawthorn