Welcome! Here at OSC, we are proud to provide our patients with the highest level of speciality dental care! Dr. Conkin is a board certified oral surgeon, and Dr. Patel is a sugrically trained prosthodontist.
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Dr. Conkin received his bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and his dental degree from the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry, Memphis, Tennessee. Upon graduation, he began a career in the United
States Navy and completed a general practice residency at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He practiced as a general dentist for the next two years, serving with and caring for Marines at Camp Lejeune, North
Carolina. He deployed to Iraq with the Marines in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
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.
Dr. Ankit Patel received his undergraduate degree from Indiana University in Biology and went on to receive his masters in Biology as well there. Dr. Patel then went on to graduate with a DMD degree from Boston University Goldman
School of Dentistry. Ultimately, Dr. Patel went on to graduate from West Virginia University School of Dentistry's Prosthodontics Residency Program in 2014. He moved to Indianapolis about two years ago and really likes living back
in his home state. We are thrilled to have Dr. Patel's specialty skill set within our dental group, and we are grateful to be able to offer our patients the highest standard of comprehensive dental care.
Prosthodontics is a dental specialty recognized by the American Dental Association. It pertains to the diagnosis, treatment planning, rehabilitation, and maintenance of the oral function, comfort, appearance, and health of patients with clinical conditions associated with missing or deficient teeth and/or oral and maxillofacial tissues.
Wisdom tooth extraction is a surgical procedure to remove one or more wisdom teeth — the four permanent adult teeth located at the back corners of your mouth on the top and bottom.If a wisdom tooth doesn't have room to grow (impacted
wisdom tooth), resulting in pain, infection or other dental problems, you'll likely need to have it pulled. Wisdom tooth extraction may be done by a dentist or an oral surgeon.To prevent potential future problems, some dentists
and oral surgeons recommend wisdom tooth extraction even if impacted teeth aren't currently causing problems.
Dental Extractions is the removal of teeth from the dental alveolus (socket) in the alveolar bone. Extractions are performed for a wide variety of reasons, but most commonly to remove teeth which have become unrestorable through
tooth decay, periodontal disease or dental trauma, especially when they are associated with toothache. Sometimes wisdom teeth are impacted (stuck and unable to grow normally into the
mouth) and may cause recurrent infections of the gum (pericoronitis). In orthodontics if the teeth are crowded, sound teeth may be extracted (often bicuspids) to create space so the rest of the teeth can be straightened.
IV sedation, also known as conscious sedation, is a sort of middle ground and it doesn't fully put you to sleep. It does make you less aware of what is going on around you during your procedure or treatment. While some forms of
sedation are inhaled (like nitrous oxide) or are taken in pill form, IV sedation is administered intravenously through an IV.
IV sedation is usually reserved for patients who are very anxious about a dental visit. It works
quickly, it's easy to adjust the dose given, and the sedative has a long period of amnesia, meaning you won't remember what happened during your dental visit or treatment. One drawback of IV sedation is that a dentist needs
to be well-trained in the administration of it, meaning that not every dental practice offers it as an option.
Oral and maxillofacial surgeons are unique among dental specialists in a number of ways. After completing four years of dental school, they go on to spend another four years in a hospital-based residency program for surgery. There,
they are trained alongside other medical residents in the techniques of emergency medicine, general surgery and anesthesiology. In fact, they are the only health care specialists (aside from anesthesiologists) who can administer
all levels of sedation, up to general anesthesia.
You may be referred to one of these specialists by your general dentist for a complex tooth extraction. Or, your orthodontist may send you for an examination if he
or she suspects a problem with the alignment of your jaws.
In this video Dr. Patel is extracting wisdom teeth and using oral conscious sedation for his patient with high dental anxiety. As you can see, the patient remains calm and relaxed throughout the procedure, and Dr. Patel was able to reomve the diseased teeth with no issues. If you are looking for speciality dental care, give us a call today, and experience the gold standard in oral surgery!
Oral and maxillofacial surgery requires additional years of hospital-based surgical and anesthesia training after graduation from dental school. As an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, Dr. Conkin manages a wide variety of problems relating to
the mouth, teeth and facial regions. Dr. Conkin practices a full scope of oral and maxillofacial surgery with expertise ranging from dental implant surgery and wisdom tooth removal to corrective jaw surgery. This also includes techniques designed
to rebuild bone structure with minimal surgical intervention and optimal patient comfort. We can also diagnose and treat facial pain, facial injuries, and fractures.Our staff is trained in assisting with Intravenous (IV) sedation or outpatient
general anesthesia, oral conscious sedation, as well as nitrous oxide in our state-of-the-art office setting. Patients are continuously monitored during and after surgery.
The surgical staff at our Oral Surgery Center of Kokomo
are experienced, certified oral and maxillofacial surgical assistants, who assist in administration of 3 types of sedation and surgery. All staff are informed administrative personnel, well-versed in health and insurance policies, and are
CPR certified.
