Mini Residency in TMD and Orofacial Pain

Meet Our Course Director

Donald Nixdorf, DDS, MS, is a Professor at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry and Director of the Division of TMD & Orofacial Pain. He graduated from dental school at the University of Alberta, a hospital residency from The Ohio State University, an anesthesia fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, and an orofacial pain fellowship at the University of Alberta. He is a Diplomate of the National Dental Board of Anesthesiology (NDBA) and the American Board of Orofacial Pain (ABOP).

Meet Our Experts

Robyn Drach, PhD, is a Licensed Clinical Health Psychologist with a private practice in the TMD, Orofacial Pain, and Dental Sleep Medicine Clinic at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry. She specializes in pain, geriatric, and rehabilitation psychology. Dr. Drach primarily works with adults who are experiencing chronic pain or chronic health conditions. Dr. Drach completed her bachelor's degree at the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she graduated with honors in psychology. She earned her master's and a doctoral degree from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Dr. Drach completed a Geriatric and Rehabilitation Psychology fellowship at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois.

Emily Kahnert, DPT, CCTT, is a Physical Therapist in the Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD), Orofacial Pain, and Dental Sleep Medicine Clinic at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry and a Rehabilitation Science PhD Candidate. Her 17 years of clinical practice have exclusively focused on treating TMD and Orofacial pain in multidisciplinary settings. She earned her Certified Cervical and Temporomandibular Therapist designation through the Physical Therapy Board of Craniofacial and Cervical Therapeutics in 2019. She is part of the TMD PT Clinical Practice Guideline development group. Her dissertation will assess telerehabilitation effectiveness for individuals with TMD, and her research is supported by the Academy of Orthopaedic PT and the American Academy of Orofacial Pain.

Meet Our UK Partners

Justin Durham, BDS, PhD, is a Professor of Orofacial Pain and the Head of the School of Dental Sciences at Newcastle University. He is an Honorary Consultant Oral Surgeon at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the United Kingdom. Dr. Durham began his clinical academic career as a Clinical Fellow/Hon SpR in Oral Surgery at Newcastle University and obtained his PhD from Newcastle University. He completed his Oral Surgery specialist training and became the first person in the UK to pass the American Board of Orofacial Pain. Dr. Durham held a prestigious NIHR Clinician Scientist award from 2012-2017, which funded his research on the care pathways in chronic orofacial pain. In his clinical practice, he has established and led a multidisciplinary orofacial pain clinic receiving tertiary-level referrals from dental and medical specialties in the North of England. His primary research interests are in all types of orofacial pain, both at the first and second translational research gaps. He has vast experience in various methodologies involved in health services research.

Emma Beecroft, BDS, is an Associate Clinical Lecturer at Newcastle University.

Disclosure Summary

It is the policy of the University of Minnesota Office of Continuing Dental Education to ensure balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all its sponsored educational activities. All participating speakers, course directors, and planning committee members are required to disclose to the program audience any financial relationships related to the subject matter of this program. Relationships of spouse/partner with proprietary entities producing health care goods or services should be disclosed if they are of a nature that may influence the objectivity of the individual in a position to control the content of the CDE activity. Disclosure information is reviewed in advance to manage and resolve any possible conflicts of interest. Specific disclosure information for each speaker, course director, and planning committee member will be shared with the audience prior to the speaker’s presentation.

Neither the speakers nor the Continuing Dental Education Staff members have anything to disclose.