Dr. ​Rich Hirschinger, Beverly Hills Facial Pain Doctor

Change has always been a defining part of my life and career. While my professional path has taken unexpected turns, each experience ultimately guided me to the specialty I practice today: orofacial pain and dental sleep medicine.

I was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and moved to Southern California as a child, growing up in the San Fernando Valley. I attended Encino Elementary, Portola Junior High, and Taft High School in Woodland Hills. After high school, I attended Tulane University in New Orleans. Although I enjoyed the experience, I always knew my goal was to return to Los Angeles and pursue dentistry – a profession I had been drawn to since my early teens.

I earned my dental degree from the University of Southern California from 1981 to 1985 and entered private practice shortly thereafter. For the first decade of my career, I practiced general dentistry while balancing two personal passions: my family and cycling.

In 1995, my life changed dramatically. I sustained an injury to my left index finger, and not long afterward, I was rear-ended by a van while riding my bicycle. The resulting hand and back injuries required surgery and ultimately forced me to sell my dental practice. As a left-handed dentist, I was unable to continue performing the full range of procedures my patients needed due to a hand injury.

During this transitional period, cycling remained both a physical and emotional outlet. I participated in the California AIDS Rides from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 1997 and 1998. Those experiences helped me reset personally and professionally. After the second ride, I decided to expand my business knowledge and enrolled at the USC Marshall School of Business, earning my MBA in 2001. A paper I wrote during that program led to the creation of DDS.com, a website service designed to help dentists establish an online presence.

Another pivotal turning point occurred in 2007. My daughter Drew and I were involved in a car accident when a driver ran a red light. While she was fortunately treated and released, I began to develop chronic back pain soon afterward. Around the same time, my mother developed severe pain in her lower left jaw that felt as though it was coming from a molar tooth. Despite undergoing root canal treatment on two teeth, her pain did not improve. She was eventually referred to a board-certified orofacial pain specialist who diagnosed trigeminal neuralgia—a condition known for causing some of the most intense pain experienced in medicine.

Through my mother’s experience, I was introduced to the field of orofacial pain. In 2009, she underwent a balloon rhizotomy to help quiet her trigeminal nerve pain, and I underwent a double spinal fusion for my own chronic pain. These life events profoundly shaped my professional direction. I became determined to better understand chronic head, neck, and facial pain conditions that often cannot be solved by treating the teeth alone.

That determination led me to apply to the UCLA Orofacial Pain and Dental Sleep Medicine Residency, which accepted me in July 2010. The two-year, full-time program was transformative. What amazed me most was that we routinely helped patients with chronic head and neck pain without using a dental drill—demonstrating that many jaw and facial pain conditions originate in muscles, joints, nerves, and sleep-related disorders rather than the teeth themselves.

Today, I am a board-certified orofacial pain specialist dedicated to diagnosing and managing complex pain conditions involving the jaw, head, and neck. I also continue to teach residents in the UCLA Orofacial Pain program one day each month, staying closely connected to academic advances in the field.

And yes—I still ride my bike.