Craniofacial Pain: Temporomandibular Disorders and Beyond

Dr. Brendan C. Stack, Jr., M.D., FACS, FACE attended Brigham Young University and graduated with AOA and Sigma Xi honor societies from Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA in 1989. Dr. Stack was trained in Surgery for two years and then Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery for four years at the University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida. Dr. Stack completed a Fellowship in Head and Neck Oncology and Microvascular Reconstruction accredited by the Joint Council for Approval of Advanced training in Head and Neck Oncologic Surgery in 1997 at the University of Washington, Seattle. While in Seattle, Dr. Stack also completed a post-doctoral fellowship in molecular biology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle and served as an Instructor at the University of Washington School of Medicine and on the medical staff of the Seattle VA Medical Center.

Dr. Stack is the former Professor of and Chairman of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, IL and had been a faculty member at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, and St. Louis University. Dr. Stack has authored over 300 peer-reviewed papers, chapters, and internet articles. Dr. Stack was editor of Medical and Surgical Treatment of Parathyroid Diseases - An evidence-based approach, Cham Switzerland: Springer International Publishing 2016, Neck Dissection, Berlin, Germany: Thieme, 2018, and Matrix Head and Neck Reconstruction: A defect based and scalable atlas for the management of oncologic and traumatic defects, Cham Switzerland: Springer International Publishing 2023. He has presented at over 350 meetings regionally, nationally, and internationally. He collaborated on grants from the NIH, NSF and other public and private organizations.

Dr. Stack has appeared on or been cited by local and national media numerous times. He served on the editorial boards of Head and Neck, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Video Endocrinology, and the ENT journal. He has served on review panels for the National Institutes of Health and review agencies for the nations of Singapore, Italy, and England. Dr. Stack is listed in "Best Doctors" of America (since 2006), "Guide to America's Top Surgeons" (since 2004), "Guide to America's Top Physicians" (since 2009), Castle and Connolly Top Doctors and Cancer Specialists (since 2014), and "Top Thyroid Doctors" (since 2004).

Revathi Shekar, BDS, MDS is a board-certified oral medicine specialist and Assistant Professor affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine. She also serves as an Attending an Physician at University Dental Health Services and is a consulting staff member of UPMC Presbyterian. She earned her dental degree from The Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore, India and a Master's degree in Oral Pathology and Microbiology from The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University, Chennai, India. She completed an Oral Medicine Residency at Harvard School of Dental Medicine and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral Medicine.

She provides care to patients who have complex oral diseases, and lays emphasis on patient education, motivation, and person-centered care. Her areas of interest include the diagnosis and management of oral mucosal diseases such as oral ulcerations, lichen planus, leukoplakia, pemphigoid and pemphigus; salivary gland diseases; neurologic and chemosensory impairment of the maxillofacial region including conditions such as burning mouth syndrome and atypical facial pain, orofacial pain conditions including temporomandibular disorders and trigeminal neuralgia, and oral complications from cancer treatment such as mucositis, graft-versus-host disease and jaw osteonecrosis.

Dr. Anthony B. Sims received his D.D.S. degree from Ohio State University in 1983. He has an Integrative Medicine Doctorate and a Doctor of Humanitarian Services degree. He has a general dental practice for over 37 years and is currently in Ellicott City, Maryland, where he also treats TMD, snoring/sleep apnea and TMD associated movement disorders as Tourette syndrome, Cervical Dystonia and other disorders without medications and/or surgery. He enjoys the systematic application of how dentistry interrelates with the many different types of movement disorders. He was a clinical mentee of Dr. Stack, Sr. for a decade.

Dr. Sims is a member of the American Academy of Craniofacial Pain, National Spasmodic Torticollis Assoc., Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Assoc., The Board of Integrative Medicine and The World Organization of Natural Medicine. He has spoken in the United States, Japan, Brazil, Canada and Europe on the perspective dentistry has on the possible abeyance of certain movement disorders. He has published the results of his treatment in peer-reviewed journals and books.