Dr. R. John Tannyhill received his dental degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School.  He completed his residency in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at MGH. After residency, Dr. Tannyhill started a successful practice in Centennial, Colorado, also serving on the faculty of the OMFS training program at Denver Health Medical Center and the University of Colorado School of Dentistry.

While in Denver, he also served as a team physician for the NBA Denver Nuggets, the NHL Colorado Avalanche, and USA Cycling, serving as the team physician at the 2012 and 2013 UCI Road World Championships in the Netherlands and Italy.

After fifteen years in Colorado, he returned to MGH as the OMFS Residency Program Director and Director of Education in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. He is an Assistant Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine and Harvard Medical School.  He is responsible for the educational and surgical development of the most gifted young oral and maxillofacial surgeons in the country.

He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, and is an ad-hoc reviewer for the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

Dr. Tannyhill's primary clinical interests are the surgical management of obstructive sleep apnea, wisdom tooth surgery, dental implant surgery, reconstructive surgery of the jaws, and facial trauma in the athlete.  His research studies are focused on resident education, surgical simulation, jaw surgery, facial trauma and dental implantology.

He lives in Belmont, MA, with his wife, Elizabeth.  They are the parents of four wonderful children.