Donald R. Tanenbaum, DDS MPH is a board-certified orofacial pain specialist and the Co-Founder of New York TMJ & Orofacial Pain, with offices in New York and New Jersey. He has dedicated his 40-year career to diagnosing and treating orofacial pain, jaw problems, and sleep-related breathing disorders.
He has written two books that bring that understanding to a wider audience.
Lockjaw: A Human Problem
Your jaw hurts. It clicks, catches, or locks. You’ve tried night guards and anti-inflammatories and been told to reduce your stress or wait it out. And yet here you are, still searching for an explanation that actually makes sense.
Lockjaw: A Human Problem is that explanation. Written for the millions of people living with jaw pain, limited opening, facial pain, and the headaches that often come with them, it explains why most jaw problems don’t arise from a single cause, and what it takes to treat the source rather than just the symptoms.
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Most jaw problems develop at the intersection of structural vulnerability, the body’s stress response, hormonal biology, sleep disruption, and underlying medical conditions no one has yet connected to the jaw. Inside the book: the jaw and neck anatomy that matters, why jaw problems develop, the concept of allostatic load and why it changes how jaw problems are treated, and real patient stories with practical guidance for working with your own care team.
This book does not promise a cure. What it offers is something more durable: the understanding to make informed decisions and become an active participant in your recovery.
Doctor, Why Does My Face Still Ache?
Tens of millions of Americans live with persistent headaches, toothaches, jaw pain, and other facial pain, and cannot find relief even after seeing many doctors. Too often, the problem is that physicians and dentists look for injury or disease to explain the pain, while overlooking the connection between emotions and the muscles that make up most of the face.
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Co-written by Dr. Tanenbaum and S. L. Roistacher, DDS, this was the first book to clearly explain how the mind can trigger changes in the body that result in persistent pain in the mouth, ears, jaw, forehead, and other facial areas. Through detailed case studies, it describes how patients found real relief, whether through understanding the brain-pain connection alone or combined with other treatment approaches.
“Drs. Roistacher and Tanenbaum remain leaders in the field of face pain and its management.” — James J. Sciubba, DMD, PhD, Professor, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine