Jeff Rowland Shaefer, DDS, MS

Jeff Rowland Shaefer, DDS, MS

Not currently accepting new patients

617-432-1434

4.540351 average rating from 114 patient reviews

Specialties

Provider Locations

  • Boston, MA

Dr. Shaefer is a general dentist with a board certification in orofacial pain and general dentistry. As the director of the Orofacial Pain Clinic at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM), he maintains a dental practice where he treats facial pain, temporomandibular disorders, and sleep apnea (sleep disruption), and conducts restorative dentistry. He teaches pain and anxiety management, emergency medicine for dentists, and the post-graduate Pharmacology course.

At Mass General - Boston, Dr. Shaefer serves as assistant professor in the OMS Department and director of the Post-Doctoral Orofacial Pain Fellowship. At his Boston clinic, he specializes in facial pain, temporomandibular disorders, and sleep apnea. At Mass General - Danvers, Dr. Shaefer cares for patients with sleep apnea.

Before joining Harvard, Dr Shaefer built 22 years of dental practice and leadership experience in the USAF Dental Corps. He was one of two TMJ/orofacial pain specialists in the Air Force and the chief of the TMD and Orofacial Pain Clinic at Keesler Medical Center, the Air Force's second largest medical center.

Before his fellowship (see below), Dr. Shaefer served in Europe for 7 years as a base dental surgeon (chief dentist), deputy medical facility commander, and medical facility commander.

Dr Shaefer is a diplomat of the American Academy of Orofacial Pain, the Federal Services Board of General Dentistry, and the Academy of General Dentistry. He is a member of the International Association of Dental Research, the American Academy of Orofacial Pain, the American Pain Society, and the Academy of General Dentistry. He maintains an active dental license in Massachusetts.

With Dr Shaefer as co-PI, HSDM was selected by the National Institutes of Health Pain Consortium as one of 12 US health professional schools to serve as Centers of Excellence in Pain Education. HSDM was the only dental school chosen as the lead institution.

Education & Training

  • Fellowship: University of Minnesota Medical School, 1996
  • Board Certification: American Board of General Dentistry, General Dentistry
  • Medical School: Georgetown University School of Medicine
  • Residency: Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center/SGHR, 59 MDW/GE

Languages Spoken

  • English

Age Group Treated

  • Adults

Patient Feedback

4.540351 average rating from 114 reviews

  • Great visit by caring providers

    2025-09-27

  • Wonderful and life saving for my son, so very blessed and grateful. Thank you to Dr. Shaefer and everyone.

    2025-09-25

  • Gave me interesting "homework". I feel very hopeful

    2025-09-20

  • Dr. Shaefer and Dr. [redacted] were kind, knowledgeable, and caring. [redacted] I now have high hopes that the 2-year pain journey I have been on is finally in capable hands and there is a light at the end of this tunnel.

    2025-09-18

  • The doctor is easy to talk to and very informative.

    2025-08-30

  • Excellent specialist. Very knowledgeable, listens well, good communications, great advice and plan.

    2025-08-28

  • Knowledgeable, thorough and attentive

    2025-08-23

  • Yes, this was an initial visit, so my answers were based on that experience. We have not really begun the treatment plan, which will take place at my follow-up visit, which I was able to get in a timely manner. So, so far, so good. Thank you.

    2025-08-22

  • I hope he never retires

    2025-08-20

  • Everything has been excellent with this provider, he's thorough & understands my medical needs.

    2025-08-14

  • Yes, Dr. Shaefer is a great doctor. He explains everything and he spent a lot of time with me explaining my situation and offering help.

    2025-08-08

  • it was good. ihad no idea what to expect.

    2025-08-07

  • Dr. Shaefer is always professional and congenial. He is thorough and always listens to what I have to say.

    2025-07-27

  • High expertise and good listening skills!

    2025-08-01

  • I found Dr. Shaefer and his Fellow to be highly competent and paid keen attention to detail and the comfort of the patient.

    2025-07-24

  • It was very good

    2025-07-03

  • Very nice. I liked him very much. Professional and respectful.

    2025-07-02

  • Fantastic experience, very caring, very thorough, very paused in their day to make certain that the time was given for for the discussion that we needed to have great experience overall.

    2025-07-02

  • It's Great

    2025-06-13

  • Very professional, listens to what you say and truly cares about getting you better

    2025-06-11

  • Providers offered a fresh analysis of an old issue that had been bothersome to me cover over a year. Their suggested treatment is effective.

    2025-06-07

  • I have been a patient of Dr. Shaefer for at least 4 years. His expertise in his field has been invaluable for me.

    2025-06-05

  • My appointment went as expected - Very professional place and extremely competent people

    2025-05-22

  • Very personable and knowledgeable

    2025-05-21

  • Dr Shaefer is very knowledgeable. He knew my history , answered my questions and was very aware of my pain. He tried different approaches to help me with my symptoms. Gave me injection to help with my immediate pain and adjusted my appliance to enable me to use it all night. Sometimes he runs a little late but he is worth waiting for.I think he is best in his field.And he is a nice and caring person.

    2025-04-24

  • Excellent

    2025-04-24

  • extremely knowledgable...and with solutions

    2025-04-17

  • I really appreciated the fact that it was a multidisciplinary team and they spent a good amount of time talking to me. They were super friendly. They really wanted to get to know me and the problem that I was having and to help me. So I found that the team was great. I appreciated the length of time that the visit took. It seemed very thorough and like they really cared.

    2025-03-19

  • Dr. Shaefer listened to my concerns about changing my treatment and decided to stick with what we had done before until we got some other tests done. He was very easy to talk to about this and I was glad that we had discussed it so I'm waiting to get that test done and then I'll go back and see what the next step is. Thank you.

    2025-03-19

  • This office has state of the art medical equipment that was used to help diagnose my jaw issues. Dr. Shaefer is an expert in the field, very knowledgeable, and explained my medical issue in layman's terms. He has a plan moving forward and I consider myself lucky to be under his care.

    2025-03-17

  • I have seen Dr. Shaefer FOR MANY YEARS, at present I need more information and out meeting was brusk.

    2025-03-08

  • Good experience in discussing my issues concerned about the appliance, mouth appliance or sleep apnea with Dr. Jeffrey Shaefer. [redacted].

    2025-03-05

  • Yes, Dr. Shaefer's visit with [redacted] was a success. He is always very nice and treated me perfectly. So he's a wonderful doctor.

    2025-02-06

  • This appointment went well. Key concerns were addressed, discussed treatment options, and clarified next steps.

    2025-02-03

  • It was pretty obvious Dr. Shaefer is seriously good at what he does. I feel completely confident he will get me into the right mandibular device that will put me back in the right place with my sleep apnea ...and I'll be able to feel my best again

    2025-01-29

  • I've been a patient with Dr. Shaefer for a very long time and I'm always honored to refer someone else to him. My husband is going to get an appointment. He needs a night guard for him with CPAC. So I'm very enjoyable to have him as a doctor.

    2025-01-23

  • The care provider and the staff in his office were excellent. No complaints about them. [redacted]

    2025-01-22

  • The doctors were very kind, informative and knowledgeable.

    2025-01-21

  • Dr. Shaefer is the first and only doctor to ever help me with my TMJ. I actually drive two hours almost, depending on the traffic sometimes more, to go each way because he's been so tremendously helpful in relieving the pain, providing a mouth guard and also teaching me techniques on how to prevent some pain. I'm very grateful for him.

    2025-01-08

  • Disengaged and did not seem interested in listening to patient or in devising a solution suitable for patient [redacted]

    2024-12-28

  • Yeah, I found that this provider was mostly kind of indifferent to my situation and my medical concerns. Maybe his personality or something about him that he just didn't seem to care. He was interested in only minimal and basic information necessary for him to go forward with ordering an apnea appliance.

    2024-12-22

  • Dr. Shaefer is great.

    2024-12-21

  • Dr Shaefer always does an excelent job taking care of me. Over the years he has helped me with my medical issues and contunies to provide amazing care.

    2024-12-20

  • Dr Shaefer previously made an oral appliance for me that brought me from a 27 on the scale down to a 10. It has made a tremendous difference in how rested I feel when I wake up from a night of restorative sleep. I have recommended and will continue to encourage friends who suffer from sleep apnea to make an apointment with Dr Shaefer.

    2024-11-30

  • Great experience

    2024-11-27

Accepted Insurance

  • UnitedHealthcare
  • TriCare_Prime
  • MaineCare
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield_Medicare
  • MultiPlan/Private Healthcare Systems
  • Coventry Health Care
  • TriCare_Standard
  • Commonwealth Care Alliance
  • Cigna
  • Met Life Dental
  • Mass General Brigham Health Plan
  • Beech Street
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield
  • Medicare
  • Senior Whole Health
  • Aetna
  • Fallon Health
  • Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
  • Delta Dental
  • Humana
  • Tufts Health Plan