Dr. Lionel Candelaria

Dr. Lionel Candelaria is an Albuquerque native. After achieving his undergraduate degree at the University of New Mexico his educational journey took him to the University of Missouri at Kansas City for his Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS). After receiving his DDS, Dr. Candelaria completed an internship at Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego, followed by a residency in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of Tennessee.

He is proud to have served his county in the US Navy and had a distinguished career retiring as a decorated Navy Captain. Having a great admiration for the land of Enchantment, its culture, and family ties, Dr. Candelaria returned home and joined the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Associates of New Mexico. He hit the ground running applying his vast knowledge and experience that was gained from his world-class education and experience in the Navy to building his office with state-of-the-art equipment and refined core Oral and Maxillofacial procedures. Particularly, third molar, dental implant and bone grafting surgery with opioid-sparing analgesia protocol, preemptive analgesia, deep sedation general anesthesia techniques.

Aside from his practice, he joined the medical staff at all the local hospitals specializing in Orthognathic surgery, facial trauma, reconstruction, and the surgical care of children with cleft lip and palate deformities. He is an attending surgeon in the Department of Surgery and a member of the Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Surgery Team at the University of New Mexico Hospital where he teaches cleft lip and palate surgery to the Plastic Surgery and ENT residents and mentors medical students in their formative years.

Dr. Candelaria is very active in many local charitable organizations including Donated Dental Services, Cops for Kids, Mission of Mercy, and Cleft Team Outreach Clinics to all communities in the state of New Mexico. He has contributed to the dental profession both locally and nationally and actively serves on healthcare policy committees, has lectured extensively, published numerous articles in peer-reviewed professional journals,  and is the author of a definitive OMFS textbook chapter. Dr. Candelaria serves as a Board Examiner for the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. He is most t notably the only Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon in New Mexico who has been inducted as a Fellow in the American College of Surgeons for exemplary contributions to the surgical specialty. Rare in his specialty, he is Board certified in both Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and board-certified in the American Society of Dental Anesthesia. He is regularly voted top Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon by his peers in the Albuquerque Magazine and offers invaluable expertise in addressing your oral health concerns.