Temporomandibular Disorders Education for Awareness and Management (TEAM)

Dr. Steve Bender is a retired Associate Professor from Texas A&M University College of Dentistry in Dallas Texas where he directed the Facial Pain and Sleep Medicine Clinic. Currently he serves as a guest lecturer for the LSU orofacial pain residency program. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Orofacial Pain and has earned Fellowships in the American Academy of Orofacial Pain, the American Headache Society, and the American College of Dentists. In addition, he is a past president of the American Academy of Orofacial Pain. He earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas, Texas in 1986 and then studied orofacial pain and temporomandibular disorders at the Parker E Mahan Facial Pain Center at the University of Florida College of Dentistry, Gainesville Florida from 1998 to 2000. Since that time, his practice was limited to the diagnosis and management of orofacial pains. Dr. Bender currently serves as an Associate Editor for CRANIO® The Journal of Craniomandibular & Sleep Practice. He has also published numerous peer reviewed articles and contributed multiple book chapters. Dr. Bender is a frequent invited presenter for both dental and medical conferences.

Dr. Chakarvarty is an orofacial pain specialist who is a diplomate of the American academy of Orofacial pain and American academy of dental sleep medicine. She earned her Doctorate of dental surgery from New York College of dentistry in 2014, following which she worked as a general for 9 years before going back to pursue a 2 year residency in orofacial pain at the University of Kentucky. Since then, she has limited her practice to the diagnosis and management of orofacial pain at her private practice in Austin, Texas.

Emily Kahnert, PT, DPT, PhD, CCTT, is a physical therapist and clinician scientist in the Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD), Orofacial Pain and Dental Sleep Medicine Clinic at the University of Minnesota (UMN) School of Dentistry and adjunct faculty in the UMN Division of Physical Therapy. Her 20 years of clinical practice have been exclusively focused on treating TMD and orofacial pain in interdisciplinary settings and her research interests include classification of orofacial pain, telerehabilitation and TMJ biomechanics.

Dr. Moreno Hay is currently the Division Chief and Program Director of Orofacial Pain at the College of Dentistry, University of Kentucky. She is an Associate Professor at the College of Dentistry, University of Kentucky. She obtained her dental degree from the University Complutense of Madrid, School of Dentistry (Spain). Dr. Moreno graduated from the 2-year CODA approved program in Orofacial Pain at the University of Kentucky in 2013. She became a Diplomate of the American Board of Orofacial Pain in 2015, and Diplomate of the American Board Dental Sleep Medicine. She is currently the President Elect of the AAOP and Chair of the Scientific Committee of the SEDCYDO. She is also an active member of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine. She has published several research articles in peer reviewed journals, book chapters, and has lectured in scientific national and international meetings.

Dr. Mariona Mulet Pradera is an orofacial pain specialist in St Paul, MN. She is board-certified by the American Board of Orofacial Pain (ABOP) and by the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine (ABDSM). She has dedicated her career to the field of orofacial pain since 2001, and provides care to orofacial pain patients in a multidisciplinary clinical setting at Health Partners Group in Minnesota. She is also the Associate Program Director of the Orofacial Pain Graduate Program at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry. She is currently the immediate past president of the American Academy of Orofacial Pain (AAOP).

Thomas Weber is the Director of Orofacial Pain at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. He received his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from Indiana University (2006) and then completed an Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency at Wright-Patterson Medical Center (2007). Dr. Weber received his certificate in Orofacial Pain (2014) and Masters in Dental Science (2015) from the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry. He is an assistant professor in the Uniformed Services University Postgraduate Dental College and an instructor in the Air Force’s Comprehensive Dentistry residency. Dr. Weber is an officer and fellow of the American Academy of Orofacial Pain and a diplomate of the American Board of Orofacial Pain.