Dr. Conkin completed an Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery residency at the National Capitol Consortium (National Naval Medical Center/ Walter Reed Army Medical Center) in Bethesda, Maryland/ Washington DC. While in residency, he was privileged to care for our sailors, soldiers, airmen, and marines injured during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. He rotated at multiple hospitals including the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Washington Hospital Center, and the aforementioned training hospitals. This allowed Dr. Conkin to operate with many world experts on various aspects of oral surgery, head and neck pathology, maxillofacial reconstruction, and facial cosmetic surgery and utilize this knowledge in all aspects of his surgical practice today.

Prior to completion of his naval career, Dr. Conkin spent four years at the Navy Recruit Training Center and the North Chicago VA Medical Center in Great Lakes, Illinois as an attending surgeon. He trained 30 Advanced Education in General Dentistry residents, 9 credentialing officers, and 7 exodontia residents on removing teeth and caring for patients with head and neck infections. He deployed to Afghanistan where he was the sole Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon in southern Afghanistan. While in Afghanistan, Dr. Conkin was partnered with a British Neurosurgeon to provide head and neck trauma support to all NATO military forces, Afghanistan National Army and Police, and Afghanistan local nationals. These unique and severe injuries provided Dr. Conkin with experience not often seen in civilian trauma centers in the United States.