Donald Nixdorf, DDS, MS

Dr. Nixdorf is a Professor and Director of the Division of TMD & Orofacial Pain. His clinical and teaching interests include the diagnosis and management of chronic TMD pain, headaches and neuropathic pain. His research is focused on the topic of persistent non-odontogenic “tooth” pain, looking at issues related to classification (e.g., consensus building), diagnosis (e.g., development of criteria, imaging, screening questionnaires), epidemiology, (e.g., determining predictive factors, assessing of impact), exploration of mechanisms (e.g., sensory testing, functional imaging), and treatment options.

Dr. Nixdorf’s teaching interests align with his clinical interests, namely the diagnosis and management of chronic ororfacial pains. Specifically he lectures on the differential diagnosis of orofacial pains, classification of orofacial pain, and treatment approaches to orofacial pain management.

Dr. Nixdorf’s clinical interests include the diagnosis and management of chronic ororfacial pains. This includes TMD pain and jaw dysfunction; neuropathic orofacial pains, such as trigeminal neuralgia and deafferentation pain (a.k.a atypical odontalgia); Headache management, including tension-type, migraine, paroxysmal hemicrania, cluster and other autonomic cephalalgias.

For a full list of Dr. Nixdorf's publications, see his Google Scholar and ORCID profiles.

Dr. Nixdorf's grants are available on his Scopus and ORCID profiles.

U.S. Patent number: US 9,541,615 B2
System and Method for Multi-ROI MRI Imaging using an RF Loop Coil
Status: awarded January 10, 2017

U.S. Patent number: US 11,448,714 B2
Multi-Planar Intraoral RF Coil for Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Status: awarded September 20, 2022

U.S. Patent number: US 12,458,293 B2
MR-Compatible Jaw Opening Device for TMJ Imaging
Status: awarded November 4, 2025