Dr. Mark Allan Piper was raised on a farm in rural Ohio where he graduated as Valedictorian of Ashtabula Edgewood Senior High School. He was admitted as a Harvard National Scholar to Harvard College, and he majored in chemistry. He received his Bachelor of Arts cum laude, in 1974. He continued his studies as a Harvard Graduate National Scholar, and in 1978, he earned his DMD magna cum laude, from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. He was the Harvard Gold Medal Award recipient of his graduating dental school class and was inducted into the Harvard Chapter of Omicron Kappa Upsilon.
Dr. Piper then enrolled in Vanderbilt Medical School and completed his MD degree in 1980. While at Vanderbilt University Medical Center he was awarded certificates for completing a one year Internship in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, a two year Basic Residency in General Surgery, and a one year Chief Residency in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. He was an emergency room physician in Tennessee before moving to Florida to establish his private practice as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. He is licensed and boarded in both dentistry and medicine, and he is Board Certified by the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.
Dr. Piper is a member of numerous local, state, national, and international dental and medical organizations and associations. Among these he is a Fellow of the American College of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, Fellow of the American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons, and member of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. He is a member of the American Dental Association and the American Medical Association. In 1984, he was one of twelve founding fathers of the American Society of TMJ Surgeons. He has served that organization as Member of the Charter Committee, Chairman of the Research Committee, and Chairman of the Adjudication Committee. Dr. Piper has been on staff at six hospitals in the greater Saint Petersburg area, and he has been a member of numerous hospital committees. He is a past Trustee of Edward White Hospital and Board Member of the Pinellas County Medical Society.
Dr. Piper has an extensive research and teaching background. As a dental student he authored a legislative bill creating the Office of Dental Forensic Examiner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He defended his Harvard School of Dental Medicine thesis on the study of myoepithelial cell migration. He was honored by the International Association of Dental Research as the Hatton Research Award First Place Winner for his original research presentation and defense on wound healing and on mechanisms of fetal palatal shelf elevation.
In private practice his clinical research interests have included the diagnosis and management of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, osteochondral growth deficiency of human mandibular condyles, and TMJ degenerative conditions. He is credited with a number of major advancements in the field of TMD including classification of TMJ disorders, development of TMJ Doppler Auscultation, TMJ microsurgery, stealth-assisted skull base surgery, and autologous adipose reconstructive grafting of damaged joints. He has special expertise in tracking occlusal disturbances in patients with TMD, and he has been instrumental in developing methods of occlusal correction through temporomandibular reconstruction.
His current work is focused on the surgical repair of TMJ internal derangements to reverse childhood osteochondral growth defects and subsequent malocclusion. Dr. Piper has lectured extensively throughout the world to both dental and medical audiences. He has been a frequent guest lecturer at the Pankey Institute and at the Dawson Center for Advanced Dental Study. His peer reviewed publications focus on TMJ microsurgery, avascular necrosis of the mandibular condyle, MR diagnosis of TMJ internal derangements, and the relationship of malocclusion to damaged TMJ’s. He is a former section editor for the
Journal of Craniomandibular Practice and former reviewer for the
Journal of OrofacialPain.
Dr. Piper currently maintains a private practice at the Piper Clinic in St. Petersburg, Florida. He devotes his skills exclusively to debilitated pain and TMJ patients, including adults with failed surgery and children with joint injuries. He is the founder and full time director of the Piper Education and Research Center, an institution dedicated to the advancement of TMJ education through lectures, hands on experiences, clinical fellowships, and research study groups. He serves as medical advisor to Anomalous Medical, LLC, in the development of graphical computer modeling of normal and pathological anatomy in the head and neck region. February 8, 2016 was the big day, I get to meet the infamous Dr. Piper.
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| I would highly recommend Dr. Piper to anyone who is looking for a fix with their haw. You will receive his full and undivided attention. When you are in the room with him you are his only priority. Not to mention his entire staff is amazing! They try to make this journey has easy as possible for you. |
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This is a VERY long day. You will get there around 7 am, my mother and I did not leave until about 10 pm. I would suggest bringing things to do as you will be doing a lot of waiting. When you get there you will check in and they will go over the paper work real quick to make sure you filled everything out correctly, then you will go take your seat. You will soon get called back (by yourself) to a room were you will get molds and meet Dr. Piper. You will then go back to your seat and.... wait. During your wait times take advantages of talking to some of the other people there. I met a girl who had just had her surgery about 4-5 days ago. We got to talk to her mother when she went back and she gave some tips on how it went. I then went back for MORE molds. I hate molds. Afterwards I met with the PA who did a LOT of exams. Definitely take some advil before you go, you will need it! Then Dr. Piper came in and looked over my MRI and the PA told him what he took in his notes. Dr. Piper then did some more exams on my jaw. He wanted another MRI since my first one was not good enough to make proper diagnostics. It was about 1:00 pm when we left for some lunch before going to my MRI. There are a bunch of little restaurants and cafes to choose from. Afterwards we went to my MRI which took about a hour. We went back to Dr. Piper's office and the sat us in a conference room with a TV. We watched a video about the MRI and how it would be read and that sort of stuff. At this point I was really tired and one of his nurses gave me a very fuzzy blanket. My mom and I hung out in the conference room for about 3-4 hours as he was finishing up with a patient and their final evaluation. I was super hungry, I had not eaten for about 7 hours by now. So be sure to bring multiple snacks with you. It was somewhere around 7 pm when we went to see Dr. Piper for my final evaluation. He noticed I was hungry and asked one of the nurses to bring me a Boost drink. When you go to the final evaluation there are 3 big computer screens. 1 has your MRI pictures on it the 2nd one has a model of your mouth ( hence the reason for so many molds) the 3rd was Dr. Pipers screen where he controlled everything.
Final Evaluation
When you go back for your final evaluation you will be looking at the MRI together this will be the first time everybody sees it including Dr. Piper. He goes through it very slowly and detailed to make sure you understand what he is saying. After every segment of the MRI he will ask if you have any questions. According to Dr. Piper my condyles were half the size the should be. Normal is usually around 160 cm, mine were 92 cm which made it easier for my disks to slip. He also saw arthritic changes in my right condyle. My right side is much worse than my left. My ligaments are also loose which made it easier for my disks to slip. In the middle screen which has the model of your mouth, he will show you what happens to your disks when you talk and chew. Its generated to your specific case. On my right side my disk covers none of my bone and that why I am beginning to get arthritis because I have had bone-on-bone interaction for a long period of time. He classified it as a 4B. Which means its in pretty bad shape. He also mentioned that this side will be more difficult to fix than the left side because he has to get towards the inside of the bone. He classified my left side as a 4AB and said it was close to a 4B. After all of this is said and done he will go over every option with you, to least invasive to worse case scenario. He does not try to persuade you one way or another, he just lays it out and gives you the pros and cons of each treatment option.
After receiving all of the our options my mother and I made the decision to go through with the surgery.
and so the fun begins....
