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CATEGORY EV NTS

Role for dentists in treating chronic craniofacial pain

By David Petrikas

D entists in Australia were treated to a rare opportunity when the US based Tufts University brought its Craniofacial Pain and Dental Sleep Medicine workshop program to Australia in August. Another program is planned in Australia for 2024. Prestigious Tufts university is not far fromHarvardmedical school in Boston and is a worldwide leader in continuing dental education around the world. Around 36 dentists from around the country, including alumni from the Tufts program in Boston attended to participate in the Sydney and Melbourne workshops and learn more about identifying and treating temporal mandibular joint (TMJ) disorders. e Sydney and Melbourne workshops were very fortunate in learning from some of the world’s leading practitioners in this eld from both here and abroad. Pain and dental sleep medicine have developed into a specialty area for some dentists who have engaged in further study through Tufts University and practice in this area. And the rewards for pursuing this speciality have been farmore than nancial, according to the program participants. Speakers at the event, including Dr Terry Bennett and Mayoor Patel from Tufts in Boston, both of whom are pioneers and practitioners in this eld, said TMJ disorders were not widely known and understood among the dental and medical community. Dr Bennett said successfully diagnosing

and then managing TMJ was a genuine ‘life changer’ for patients and were a real opportunity for dentists to help those who had failed to get the treatment they needed through other channels. “I’ve had many, many patients over the years thanking me for literally changing their lives. I’ve actually had a patient say, ‘if you can’t help me, I’m going to kill myself as I can’t stand the pain any longer’. ose who have been successfully treated by us say it has ‘given them their life back’ as they had endured pain every day,” he said.

are now a range of devices, therapies and surgeries to address TMJ and some tell-tale signs of TMJ disorders that dentists with the right training could easily identify and treat. Tufts University graduate and now sleep and pain specialist Karen McCloye is a dentist fromBrisbane who has undergone further study in Australia and at Tufts University in Boston and is now a speaker and ambassador for Tufts. Dr McCloye was on hand to assist in the Australian Craniofacial Pain and Dental Sleep Medicine program. Dr McCloy now receives nerve pain referrals from GPs and hospitals for people experiencing severe facial pain. She said tooth pain often gets confused with trigeminal neuralgia and knowing the signs of TMD could help point the way towards appropriate treatment and successful outcomes for patients. She said while sleeping devices such as CPAP machines and appliances such as splints to address TMJ issues could solve some of the issues, a multidisciplinary approached was often needed to properly diagnose and treat patients according to their individual situation. “You need to take a forensic approach and become the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ of dentistry which makes you think of all the things that could be contributing to the problem. “It might be TMD joint issue which you can treat or myofascial pain. You need to

“It turnsout that thepainwascompletely treatable all along, but the trouble is there is very little education in TMJ through normal dental training. But it is very gratifying to have gained the knowledge of the medical aspect of dentistry and knowing that the areas of sleep medicine and (TMJ) pain are often related.” Dr Bennet who has been a dental practitioner for over 45 years said there

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