If you are suffering from the restricted opening of your mouth, you may have TMD, TMD, completely displaced disc, or osteoarthritis. While it is easy enough to simply look at reviews online to pick a TMD specialist to inspect your jaw, there are certain things to consider before settling on a specialist.
First of all, there are only 4 TMD specialist in state North Carolina. One at Duke-Dr. Alonso, one at UNC-Dr. Lim, one at Fort Bragg-Dr. Chiu, and Dr. Yount in Raleigh.
At Raleigh Facial Pain Center, our team of highly trained health care professionals endeavor to listen to your needs, share the latest science chronic pain and TMD, and coach, cheerlead, share, care, and plan the most successful plan for your unique needs. TMD is complex disease, TMD complex joint, and chronic pain requires a team of highly trained professionals working together for comfort and pain-free chewing once again.
When choosing a specialist to treat your TMD, you want to make sure they are:
- Board-certified. Currently, the American Dental Association (ADA) does not have a defined specialty in orofacial pain, but the American Board of Orofacial Pain (ABOP) offers certification with Diplomate status. A Diplomate is a dentist who is certified by the American Board of Orofacial Pain, and has gone above and beyond the mandatory educational requirements for their specialty. To be qualified for Board certification, they must be certified as a dentist, including basic college education and completion of dental school to earn a D.D.S. or D.M.D. degree; have taken at least 400 hours of continuing education in subjects related to orofacial pain; and have practiced in orofacial pain for at least two years. Candidates can also qualify if they have completed at least one year of a full-time university residency program or hospital-based program. After the above requirements are met, comprehensive oral and written examinations are given covering all phases of orofacial pain. Once the examinations are successfully completed, Diplomate status is awarded.
- Residency-trained. Many of dentists claiming to be TMD specialist take weekend courses or mini residences to learn about complexity of TMD or chewing system. Only an Orofacial pain specialist has done a 2-3 year residency at a approved university. The Parker Mahan Facial Pain center at University of Florida is a certified residency and/or fellowship. The internationally known Dr. Parker Mahan and Dr. Henry Gremillion were the distinguished professors that we trained with during 3 years. During residency, dentists undergo in-depth training in a many different dental and medical fields of study to become an Orofacial Pain Specialist.
- 25 years Chronic Pain Management: Raleigh Facial Pain Center was established in 1997 by Dr. Keith Yount. With almost 25 years of experience managing chronic pain in chewing system, we provide latest in science in chewing system orthopedics. The professional staff is highly trained in a medical-dental fields with years, I mean years, of clinical training: Phyllis Yount in medical field of radiology and Amy Weaver in field of dentistry.
Reach Out to Raleigh Facial Pain for Help Choosing a TMD Specialist
We want to make sure you are protected when you seek treatment for your TMD problems. If you need help choosing a specialist, please don’t hesitate to contact Raleigh Facial Pain Center today at (919) 781-6600. We would be happy to answer any questions you may have or to schedule you an appointment with one of our physicians.
