Biography

Dr Shaefer board-certified by the American Academy of Orofacial Pain, the Federal Services Board of General Dentistry, and the American Academy of General Dentistry. At Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) he  is responsible for training the pre-doctoral dental students in pain and anxiety management. This includes teaching the diagnosis and management of orofacial pain, administration of anesthesia, the pharmacology of pain control, and conscious sedation training. These subjects are not taught at one time, but progressively presented throughout the dental student’s 4 years of education. Dr Shaefer has developed course camels, tutorials, lectures, exercises, and practical exams to address educational goals in each of these disciplines. His clinical direction of the orofacial pain program resulted in improved diagnosis of facial pain at both the pre-doctoral and postdoctoral levels. His orofacial pain course given to second year Harvard dental students allows these students their first opportunity to apply their medical school knowledge in the diagnosis of the dental patient. It sets the standard nationally for pre-doctoral orofacial pain training. He has pioneered the pre-doctoral training in anesthesia and sedation; our students now are certified in nitrous oxide sedation for the first time. His innovations in this training include the clinical teaching of advanced anesthetic block techniques for the 2nd and 3rd division of the trigeminal nerve to incoming third year dental students. Teaching of medical emergency management also has been expanded to include the use of the emergency simulator at the medical school to better prepare the third year students for their clinical experiences. He established clinical programs in the non-surgical management of orofacial pain and TMD patients at Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Oral Surgery Department and Brigham Women’s Hospital Pain Clinic (Anesthesia Department). His thriving orofacial pain practice within the OMFS clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital adds pain management expertise to the oral surgery practice and upgrades the quality of care for patients.  His clinical practice greatly improves training opportunities for our post-doctoral student completing residency training in oral surgery, oral medicine, and orofacial pain and the pre-doctoral dental students as they complete their OMFS clinical rotations. He is responsible for teaching clinical pharmacology at the post graduate level at HSDM to the majority of the post graduate dental students.