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Despite its origins as a powerful bacterial neurotoxin found in nature, Botox® is an equally powerful therapeutic agent, with applications as varied as vision and urology. Yet, it’s perhaps best known for its wildly successful use as an aesthetic treatment, easing the appearance of a particular type of wrinkle that commonly plagues those approaching middle age.
Brooklyn City Dental has always been a practice with a difference, on the leading edge of a trend that sees more dentists offering cosmetic services. It makes sense, since your smile is often a highlight of your appearance. Framing it well through facial aesthetics is a natural place to involve your dental care providers.
Botox was originally developed to treat eye conditions caused by muscles that spasm so severely they interfere with a patient’s eyesight. Approved for these uses by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1989, it wasn’t until 2002 that the government agency endorsed the use of Botox for treating certain types of wrinkles formed by expression muscles that lose the ability to fully relax.
From that point, Botox rocketed to the top of the aesthetic treatment field. Injectable treatments based on botulinum toxin type A are the most requested cosmetic procedure by a wide margin, with over 5 million units administered in 2019, before falling back slightly during the following year with its pandemic-related shutdowns.
The botulinum neurotoxin found in nature can completely paralyze muscle tissue. The developers of Botox realized that, if they could purify and dilute a synthetic form, they might be able to develop a product that provided a way to gain control over unwanted muscle activity.
Worry lines on your forehead and between your eyes, as well as the crow’s feet beside your eyes, aren’t the usual sorts of wrinkles that affect you as your skin ages. Instead, the muscles responsible for making expressions start to hold their contracted shape, never completely relaxing. Even a person with an ideal skin tone would show these age-inducing lines.
Injecting Botox into several key muscles causes them to relax. As the active agent takes effect, these muscles smooth out, along with the skin over top. Your artificial expression of concern eases, and the depth of crow’s feet noticeably reduces. Overall, your appearance becomes calm and relaxed and remains that way for about four to six months, though individual results can vary.
The safety of Botox is well-proven through over 16 years of studies and has approvals in 95 countries. As Botox approaches the 20th anniversary of its FDA approval, it has a safe track record supported by 528 peer-reviewed articles and over 100 million vials sold in the United States since 2002.
Sofiya Shimonova, AGNP and her team at Brooklyn City Dental are Botox specialists. They also offer dermal filler injections, an ideal complement to Botox injections, filling in lines and wrinkles not caused by muscle contractions. Call or click to schedule a consultation today.
