I tried a buccal facial to help with my teeth grinding, here’s how it went
WORDS BY ELLA TAVERNER
“I’m not going to lie; it’s definitely a peculiar experience having a near stranger stick their gloved hands into your mouth.”
I feel pretty lucky to say I’ve never been a super anxious person. Sure, I’ve had my share of emotional meltdowns and tearful outbursts, but all in all, I’ve gone through my twenties relatively unscathed.
So you can imagine my surprise when I visited the dentist late last year and was met with “Wow, what’s keeping you up at night?”. As it turns out, my ability to sleep through an earthquake maybe wasn’t a good thing. Unbeknownst to me, after dozing off into a nice cosy slumber each night, I proceeded to enter a ferocious teeth-grinding frenzy.
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After the dental consult and a very exposing X-ray, it soon became apparent I’d been wearing my tooth enamel down for years. Though I had no idea I’d been trying to pulverise my teeth into sand each night, it did explain a lot of the jaw tension I felt on a day-to-day basis. I’d been unconsciously avoiding super dense toast and chewy lollies for years due to the jaw pain I’d experience after a few bites.
Scrolling through TikTok one night, I came across a video of an Australian athlete getting what she called a ‘buccal facial’. If you’re remotely tuned in to the world of celebrities and pop culture, there’s a high chance you’ve heard of buccal-fat removal surgery (please note, the two are very different).
The latter, a new (and slightly problematic) cosmetic craze that involves surgically removing fat pads from the lower cheeks, has been lauded by influencers and celebrities alike as a shortcut to achieving a more contoured jawline and sculpted cheekbones. And despite the surgical procedure spamming my social feeds for some months now, I’d never heard of a buccal facial.
As I continued watching the ASMR-esque video, a momentary lapse in concentration caused me to nearly throw my phone at the wall. In a matter of seconds, the facialist went from massaging the contours of the athlete’s jaw to basically sticking her entire fist in her mouth.
I know what you’re thinking; that sounds like some sort of nightmarish fever dream, but the more I watched the more captivated I was by this slightly unorthodox treatment. By the end of the video, I learnt that a buccal facial is essentially a contouring technique that targets the muscles and tissue deep within the cheek to release tension and increase blood flow. The key differentiator from a regular facial? An intra-oral facial massage.
I later discovered the master behind the treatment was one of Australia’s most respected holistic facialists, April Brodie, and jumped at the opportunity to visit her in Melbourne. Working out of the luxurious Pullman Hotel, April has pioneered her exclusive brand of facial sculpting massage techniques and offers private treatments across Melbourne and Sydney.
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Using a beautiful array of Rationale skincare, the treatment started off not dissimilar to other facials I’ve experienced. April started with a deep cleanse and tended to my dry skin with hydrating serums and a gua sha massage. Around a third of the way through my 90-minute treatment, I took a deep breath and the buccal fusion facial began.
I’m not going to lie; it’s definitely a peculiar experience having a near stranger stick their gloved hands into your mouth, but after a few minutes I could already feel myself relaxing into it. Straight away, April noticed I was carrying more stress in my jaw than in my shoulders. She focused on my lower jaw and gums, working her way around to the corners of my mouth and lower cheekbones, tending to almost all of the 42 muscles of the face.
With her thumbs placed on the outside of my cheeks and her fingers on the inside, April applied a squeezing pressure moving in an upwards motion. Lying there mid-session, I realised that although unorthodox, the concept wasn’t so dissimilar to having a deep tissue back massage. If it’s possible to carry as much stress in our jaws, why don’t we treat them with the same love and care?
The facial ended with a glorious LED treatment, along with some final décolletage and neck TLC. Not to sound hyperbolic, but the results of the buccal tension technique were instantaneous. For someone with pretty cherub-like cheeks, I was so surprised by how lifted my face looked. Aesthetically, the results were two-pronged, helping with overall inflammation and sculpting, while assisting with lymphatic drainage.
For the next few nights, the gums lining my cheeks felt a little tender and swollen but the lingering tension had eased massively. I felt lighter, generally more relaxed and pretty chuffed with my jawline. In a bid to find out if my teeth grinding had stopped, I downloaded a sleep recording app to investigate. Surprisingly, my teeth-grinding had decreased by about 90 per cent, something I hadn’t been able to achieve for months.
Although it’s not necessarily a permanent fix, and it’s definitely on the pricer side, I couldn’t have been more pleased with my buccal facial results. If you experience teeth-grinding, jaw tension or just want to treat yourself, I highly recommend paying April a visit.
For more on buccal facials, try this.
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