Upon graduation from University College Cork, School of Dentistry in 1995. I, like most of my class sought work in the UK. I worked in general dental practice performing all aspects of dental treatment for a number of year before embarking on a fellowship in Orofacial pain at the School of Dentistry University of California, Los Angeles in 1998.

The Orofacial pain centre at UCLA was the first chronic pain centre worldwide that focused on the management of chronic orofacial pain conditions that presented to the dentist.

As such it developed widespread acclaim and many of the top orofacial pain specialists worldwide were trained at UCLA. Following my fellowship, I progressed to a Residency program in Orofacial pain and Temporomandibular Dysfunction and finally I completed a Masters of Science in Oral Biology.

My training in UCLA focused on the management of all chronic orofacial pain conditions including musculoskeletal facial pain (temporomandibular disorders), neuropathic facial pain (primary headache disorders) and neuropathic orofacial pain (trigeminal neuralgia and post traumatic trigeminal neuropathies). As it was hospital based it delivered treatment using a multidisciplinary model, incorporating a variety of medical specialities such as maxillofacial surgery, neurology, ENT and psychology. Special attention was given to the psychology of chronic pain.

Upon returning to Ireland in late  2001 I set about establishing a practice limited to the management of orofacial pain and temporomandibular disorders and have exclusively treated this subgroup of patients ever since

I have lectured locally, nationally and internationally on orofacial pain and TMJ related topics.