Earlier this spring, I boarded a plane to Munich for the express purpose of sculpting my cheekbones with 1 milliliter of hyaluronic acid fillers. While I originally had no other plans for my short time in town, I realized upon arrival that it was a prime opportunity to add Botox to the itinerary. If I was already sitting in the dermatologist’s chair preparing to house a cannula in my face, I was definitely ready for the relatively painless injections that Botox entails.

Let me rewind for a moment to avoid giving off the impression that I run around flippantly sticking needles in my face. Although the origin story behind my cheek fillers can basically be summed up as, “I wanted to try it once,” I had a more concrete and pressing reason for testing out Botox.

Botox has a reputation as a wrinkle-targeting injection, which makes sense, given that the derms I’ve spoken to confirm this is the most frequently requested treatment. It also has several other applications I’ve become acquainted with throughout my years working in the beauty industry. My colleagues seem to particularly love masseter Botox (sometimes referred to as jaw Botox), a treatment with twofold results. First, depending on your face shape, it can slim your jawline, although the results are much less obvious than Kybella or filler reconstruction. And second—the promise that initially hooked me in—it prevents you from clenching and grinding your teeth, a skill I could medal in thanks to years of stress.

There are fixes for teeth-grinding that don’t involve needles; gua sha and face rolling are both options meant to help release tension in your facial muscles, but they are no match for my longtime habit. There are also mouth guards, which dentists love to suggest almost as much as I hate wearing them. When a coworker told me she had created tiny holes in her teeth from consecutive nights of stress-grinding (“Wow, same!” I cried) and subsequently fixed the problem in a single Botox session, I leaned in closer. “Tell me everything,” I said in awe.

That is how I ended up asking dermatologist and Royal Fern founder Timm Golueke, M.D. for an extra set of injections. If you already sat through my excruciatingly detailed description of fillers, have no fear because masseter Botox is a total breeze in comparison. There are four injections total, two on each side, directed straight into your masseter muscle. You can feel this muscle along the side of your jaw when your teeth are clenched; it controls chewing and raising your jawbone. But when it’s in a constant state of tension, you may spend many mornings waking up to headaches, jaw pains, and (eventually) Swiss cheese molars, none of which are a particularly good time.

Reversing this long list of complaints is surprisingly quick. Dr. Golueke instructed me to turn my head to the side and bite down before giving me two quick jabs toward the back of my jaw, delivering four units of Botox to each side of my face. (He estimates the total cost at $90, but this will vary based on where you go for your appointment). Each injection lasted perhaps half a second and was over before I could fully react to the sensation of a tiny needle plunging into my skin. We then repeated the process on the other side. I would love to report more details about this procedure, but that was the end of it. There was no swelling, no pain, no need to ice pack the lower half of my face. In fact, there was no need to even look in the mirror at this point—because the results would take two weeks to show.

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