Dr. Gallagher has practiced oral and maxillofacial surgery in Austin since 1984. One of the only oral surgeons in central Texas to complete two years of residency training in anesthesiology, Dr. Gallagher feels that, "As oral surgeons, we perform a lot of surgery in our offices, and I wanted to be optimally prepared to offer a full range of pain control and anesthesia to my patients. We can provide safe, effective anesthesia for people of all ages, from small children to the elderly. It is normal for people to be apprehensive about surgery, so comprehensive anesthesia training and experience benefits everyone, particularly very nervous persons."
Growing up, Dr. Gallagher’s father served in the U.S. Air Force, so his family traveled and lived in many states and countries, including Hawaii and the Philippines. Dr. Gallagher attended college in Ohio at Heidelberg College and graduated with a BS in biology. In 1977, he completed his dental training in a three-year program at New York University College of Dentistry in New York City and received his DDS degree.
For his first year of anesthesiology residency, Dr. Gallagher trained at Mt. Sinai Hospital and Medical School in New York City. His second year of fellowship training in anesthesiology was completed at John Peter Smith Hospital in Ft. Worth, Texas. Dr. Gallagher then finished his oral and maxillofacial surgery residency training program at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas, Southwestern Medical School, and Parkland Memorial Hospital in 1982. During his numerous years of training Dr. Gallagher also performed clinical research, co-authored many scientific papers, presented lectures at many national scientific meetings, and contributed to textbooks about the correction of facial deformities, as well as other topics.
Following residency training, Dr. Gallagher enjoyed private practice and taught medical students and residents at the Brown University Medical School hospitals in Providence, Rhode Island. He was director of maxillofacial trauma at the medical center hospital. In 1983, he served as a lecturer/surgeon to the Australian and New Zealand Societies of Surgery in Melbourne, where he demonstrated reconstructive surgery for a month, and was interviewed on the Australian Broadcast Corporation national television network. Two years later, in 1984, he declined the opportunity for a teaching appointment with private practice opportunities in Rhode Island to pursue his long time goal of living near his family and practicing oral and maxillofacial surgery in Austin, Texas.
For many years, Dr. Gallagher has volunteered his surgical talents in Guatemala and Honduras, especially correcting cleft lip and palate deformities in rural areas, and lecturing at the medical schools in Guatemala City and Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Dr. Gallagher has been featured in Good Housekeeping, Women's Day, and Redbook magazines. He received the Super Dentist distinction in 2004 and 2005 for Texas Monthly and Top Dentist in 2007 and 2008 for Austin Monthly. He has also been nominated for Texas Dentist of the Year.
With his wife and four children, Dr. Gallagher enjoys an active family life. He remains involved in the local community as a Boy Scout Leader, coaching baseball, and church. At home, Dr. Gallagher loves constructing projects for the house and yard, tending to a small orchard, and raising honeybees. In fact, we even have a flower garden and bird feeders in the backyard of the oral surgery office.