Biography
I was born in Omaha, Nebraska and moved to Tarzana, California in1965, and then to Encino in 1966, which is where I spent my childhood. Iwas a "valley boy" having attended Encino Elementary, Portola JuniorHigh in Tarzana, and Taft High School in Woodland Hills. After highschool, I attended Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and wasconstantly asked why I moved away from LA. Tulane was a fantasticexperience but I knew I had more education ahead of me since I hadwanted to be a dentist since my early teens. I attended dental school atUSC from 1981-1985, and started my dental career in private practice afew months after graduation.
Two of my passions, in addition to my family, were dentistry andcycling. I practiced general dentistry for 10 years until I hurt myselfin 1995 when I injured my left index finger. Shortly after that injury, Iwas rear ended by a van while riding my bicycle. I had hand and backsurgery but ended up selling my practice since my hand injury preventedme from providing all of the procedures required of a dentist, and yes,I'm left handed.
Not knowing what to do, I rode my bike, and participated in twoCalifornia AIDS rides from San Francisco to Los Angeles, in 1997 and1998. After the second ride, I decided to attend the USC Marshall Schoolof Business, where I earned my MBA degree in 2001. As a result of afour page paper I wrote, I created a website service for dentists at www.DDS.com.
Another year of change occurred in 2007. Drew, my daughter who was 12at the time, and I were hit by a driver who ran a red light. Drew wastreated and released but I started to develop back pain shortly afterthe accident. Then, a few months later, my mom had severe pain in herlower left jaw. Two root canals did not do anything to stop her pain,and she was referred to a dentist who was Board certified in orofacialpain who properly diagnosed her with trigeminal neuralgia, which is oneof the most severe pains known to mankind. Through my mom's experience, Ilearned more about orofacial pain.
In 2009 my mom ended up needing neurosurgery to quiet her pain, and Iended up needing a double spinal fusion to quiet my pain. The urge tolearn more about chronic pain was too strong and I applied for, and wasaccepted into UCLA's Orofacial Pain and Dental Sleep Medicine program inJuly 2010. It was anunbelievable experience, and I now have a private practice limited to OFP in Beverly Hills, California. Please visit Beverly Hills TMJ Headaches Migraines Sleep Apnea to learn more about me.
I am also an inventor with two patents. As we all know, getting patients to stretch is very important. After practicing a few years, my mind got creative an I invented the gentle jaw, which is a gentle jaw passive jaw stretching device for acute and chronic jaw and TMJ pain. It is used for 30 seconds every two hours when patients have pain, and then for 30 seconds four times a day when the pain is relieved. I call "yoga for the jaw."