Postoperative Pain: An Analysis on Evolution of Research in Half-Century

After graduating from the University of Alberta Faculty of Dentistry, Dr. Nixdorf completed hospital dentistry residency at The Ohio State University, Anesthesia fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, Orofacial Pain fellowship at the University of Alberta, and a Master of Science in Clinic Research at the University of Minnesota. As a Diplomate of the National Dental Board of Anesthesiology (NDBA) and the American Board of Orofacial Pain (ABOP), he maintains a specialty Orofacial Pain practice on the diagnoses and management of chronic TMD pain, headaches, and neuropathic pain within multi-disciplinary settings. Dr. Nixdorf's research has focused on the topics of non-odontogenic "tooth" pain from a classification, diagnosis, epidemiology, and treatment perspectives, as well as TMD and most recently dental MRI, with over 95 published articles. Dr. Nixdorf is Professor, Division Director, and past Graduate Program Director at the University of Minnesota in the Division of TMD & Orofacial Pain.

Dr. Alan Law received his Doctor of Dental Surgery and Certificate in Endodontics from the University of Iowa College of Dentistry, Iowa City, Iowa. He also completed his PhD, “Mechanisms and Modulation of Orofacial Pain”, with the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Iowa. Dr. Law has published over 40 articles in scientific and clinical journals, and has co-authored chapters on orofacial pain and regenerative Endodontics in Pathways of the Pulp and The Dental Pulp, is an editor of Endodontics: Principles and Practice, and has lectured at over 300 local, national and international meetings. He is a member the American Dental Association, American Association of Endodontics, and Omicron Kappa Upsilon Dental Honor Society, and a Fellow of the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists. He is a Past President of the American Association of Endodontists, Past President of the Minnesota Association of Endodontists, and Past President of the American Board of Endodontics. He is in full–time practice in the Twin Cities, Chief Clinical Officer-specialrty Practices for Park Dental Partners, Inc., and President of The Dental Specialists, a multi-specialty dental practice with over 45 specialists. He is also a Research Professor in the Division of Endodontics at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Omid Dianat is a board-certified endodontist who received his second Certificate in Endodontics and Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Maryland School of Dentistry in 2020. He earned his DDS with honors from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran and completed his first endodontic specialty training at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Dr. Dianat has authored more than 85 publications in PubMed-indexed journals. His research interests include endodontic pain mechanisms, advanced technologies, dynamic navigation, and artificial intelligence in endodontics. He practices at Irvine Endodontics in Irvine, California, and serves as Dean's Faculty at the University of Maryland School of Dentist