James Fricton DDS, MS, co-founder of the clinic, takes great joy in helping patients with simple to complex head, neck, orofacial, and TMJ pain conditions as well as obstructive sleep disorders.
Click to Review James Fricton DDS, MS
His approach, termed transformative care, blends evidence-based treatments through an interdisciplinary team with extensive training of patients in how to manage their own pain. In addition to his role as a Pain Specialist at the Minnesota Head and Neck Pain Clinic, Dr. Fricton is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, and Public Health.
He was trained in Dentistry at the University of Iowa and in Medical Anesthesiology and Pain Management at UCLA School of Medicine, the Health Partners Institute, and started the Orofacial Pain Program at the University of Minnesota. He has 40 years of experience in patient care, University teaching, and National Institutes of Health-sponsored research on relieving and preventing chronic head and neck pain and the use of health information technology in patient care. He is internationally regarded for his 100 publications and books with his most recent NIH-sponsored research on preventing and treating chronic pain and addiction. He also founded the Personalized Activated Care and Training (www.PACTforPain.com) that helps health professionals integrate patient self-management training with treatment using a telehealth team and technology.
Leadership Positions
He has held top leadership positions in the American Academy of Orofacial Pain, the American Board of Orofacial Pain, the American Board of Dental Specialties, the American Pain Society, the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching, and the International Myopain Society. He had taught many courses on chronic pain with his most recent On-line Course on Preventing Chronic Pain: A Human Systems Approach at coursera.org/learn/chronic-pain with over 50,000 participants from 176 different countries. He also has several textbooks on TMJ and Craniofacial Pain, Myofascial Pain and Fibromyalgia, Orofacial Disorders: Current Therapies in Orofacial Pain and Oral Medicine, and a fiction novel titled The Last Scroll. In addition, he has written several textbooks on TMJ and Craniofacial Pain, Myofascial Pain and Fibromyalgia, Orofacial Disorders: Current Therapies in Orofacial Pain and Oral Medicine, and a fiction novel titled The Last Scroll. He is also a health coach for the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching. His press coverage encompasses the latest technological advances in the field of TMD and Orofacial Pain Treatment with a vast array of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches including complementary and alternative therapies for pain disorders.
He is married to Dr. Delia Dall’Arancio, an orthodontist at Minnesota Orthodontics and has 4 children and 4 grandchildren so far. His hobbies include spending time with his family, golf, swimming, running as well as writing fiction and non-fiction, making stain glasswindows, and traveling.
Our mission is to provide high-quality, effective patient care for head and neck disorders through a multispecialty, interdisciplinary approach designed to reduce pain and improve function for all our patients.