HOW TO INCORPORATE TRIGGER POINT INJECTIONS AND NERVE BLOCKS INTO YOUR DENTAL PRACTICE

August 29, 2026 2:00 PM - 08:00 PM (GMT)

Sat. August 29th, 2026 | 8am to 2pm

Holiday Inn & Suites Albuquerque-North I-25 By IHG 5050 Jefferson Street NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109

AGD Members: $495 Non-AGD Members: $795 Space is limited to 20 people

Receive 6 CEU of Participation Credit

Breakfast and Snack Break will be provided

Course Information

This hands-on course is for healthcare professionals to learn about and how to perform Trigger Point Injections (TPI), Botox Injections, and Occipital Nerve Blocks in the jaw and neck muscles to diagnose and treat TMD, non-dental tooth pain, and headaches. Doctors will also review of head and neck anatomy related to the injection as well as show how these injections work.

Course Objectives

• Use injections to reduce jaw, head and neck pain to make patients more comfortable prior to and during dental visits and identify and treat non dental tooth pain. 
• Be able to identify muscle trigger points in the head and neck and how to do injections to identify sources of pain and treat these pains.
•  Be able to identify occipital nerves and be able to inject them to reduce pain in the head and face

About the Speaker Dr. Joseph R. Cohen

Dr. Cohen is a board-certified specialist in orofacial pain (OFP) and has treated thousands of TMD, OFP patients at Southwest Pain Management Associates in the greater Phoenix area since 1980 and at A T Still University (ATSU) since 2010 where he is currently Assistant Professor and Director of the Orofacial Pain Clinic. He also is part-time faculty at the UCLA OFP residency program where he treats OFP and trains OFP residents. As an OFP specialist he has expertise in diagnosing and treating all jaw joint and muscle disorders, neck and shoulder pain, migraine and tension type headaches, all facial neuralgias, facial movement disorders and the relationship between these pain disorders to tooth pain that has no dental pathology diagnosis.

He received his training in Trigger Point Injections from the inventor, and author of The Trigger Point Manual, with Janet Travell, David Simon and her successor in taking over the chapter on head and neck, in The Trigger Point Manual, Bernadette Jaeger at UCLA where he continues to work with her there. He has given many hands on lectures on trigger point injections and the use of botox for TMJ pain.

He is the first Commissioner for the new specialty of Orofacial Pain for the Commission on Dental Accreditationental Accreditation (CODA). He is therefore the chair of the committee that sets the educational standards for this specialty for OFP residencies in the United States and serves as a commissioner on CODA that makes the decisions for all the standards for all dental education programs in all of the dental education programs in the US. He has and continues to lecture extensively nationally and internationally, including an upcoming lecture in Brazil in November 2025 and to the American Endodontic Society on in March 2026 Dr Cohen is a section editor for the Journal “Cranio" ( The official Journal of the American Academy of Orofacial Pain) and is a frequent reviewer for several Journals including: The Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA), American Headache Society, Cephalgia, Triple O and many others.

Dr. Cohen is past president of the American Board of Orofacial Pain (ABOP) and the American Academy of Orofacial Pain (AAOP). He is a diplomate of the Academy of Integrative Pain Management and American Academy of Pain Management. He is a member of many professional organizations including the American Dental Association, American Pain Society, and the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Orofacial Pain, American Headache Society, American College of Dentists (FACD), International College of Dentists (IACD) and the Pierre Fouchard Academy.

Dr. Cohen is a graduate of the University of Tennessee Dental School and received advanced training in Orofacial Pain at UCLA. He has published many scientific papers and has just published a research study on the use of laughter in the treatment of head and neck pain and a study on the use of Botox in the treatment of TMD. He has also contributed to the “Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of TMD and OFP’ published by Quintessence.

Dr. Cohen continues to regularly see patients at ATSU and at the private Endodontic practice of Dr. Mark Kerr in Gilbert, Az.

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