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The treatment of orofacial pain disorders worldwide is primarily within the rubric of oral medicine, neurology, or limited orofacial pain practices. In many countries, formal specialty recognition is nonexistent, as are regulated formal, university based training programs. Only a few countries fulfill this criterion, including the United States, Canada, Sweden, and Saudi Arabia.
Other countries, including Brazil, where orofacial pain is a recognized specialty entity, Costa Rica, Panama, South Korea, the Netherlands, and Japan represent other examples of recognition of specialty under the auspices of other specialties such as oral medicine.
In the UK, orofacial pain tends to be part of Oral Medicine or a related specialty training under the Royal Colleges rather than a standalone specialty. Formal national specialty recognition throughout Europe is largely absent or varies by country. India and other Asian Countries do not appear to have a widely recognized separate university based orofacial pain specialty training despite the existence of various associations such as the Indian Orofacial Pain Association which is now promoting the field. Entities in Australia or also endeavoring to seek specialty recognition. One can only imagine inconsistencies that occur in the requirements for specialty worldwide.
The objective of today’s brief discussion is to discuss the importance of orofacial pain and how diagnosis and treatment may be consistently provided.

GARY M. HEIR, D.M.D.
Professor
Division, Program and Clinical Director
Robert and Susan Carmel Chair in Algesiology
Center for Temporomandibular Disorders and Orofacial Pain
Department of Diagnostic Science, Division of Orofacial Pain
Rutgers School of Dental Medicine
110 Bergen Street – Room D885
Newark, New Jersey 07101
heirgm@sdm.rutgers.edu

Dr. Heir is a Past-President and a Diplomate of the American Board of Orofacial Pain and Past President and a Fellow of the American Academy of Orofacial, He is a Fellow of the American College of Dentists. He holds the position of the Carmel Chair in Algesiology at the Rutgers School of Dental Medicine, the first professorship in the nation in algesiology dedicated to orofacial pain. New Jersey Monthly Magazine named him as a New Jersey Top Doctor for two consecutive years.

Dr. Heir is a Professor, Program and Clinical Director of the Center for Temporomandibular Disorders and Orofacial Pain of Rutgers University School of Dental Medicine and Director of the Post Graduate Advanced Education and Masters Programs. Dr. Heir is Past Chair of the Written Examination Council of the American Board of Orofacial Pain, served on the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) as a member and Commissioner of the Review Committee and continues to serve as a CODA orofacial pain site inspector. He is a member of the Review Committee of Advanced Dental Education of the ADA Council of the Commission on Dental Education and Licensure (CDEL) and the Section Editor of the Orofacial Pain Neuroscience Section of The Journal of The American Dental Association. He serves on numerous editorial boards for many other peer reviewed journals.

Dr. Heir is a member of many professional organizations devoted to the study and diagnosis of pain disorders, has published numerous papers, chapters and abstracts on topics related with the field of temporomandibular disorders and orofacial pain. Dr. Heir was appointed to the New Jersey Governors Council for Lyme Disease and served for twelve years in that position, and one term as its vice chair. He is the primary author of the nationally accepted Post Graduate Core Curriculum in Orofacial Pain.