Dr. Matthew K. Mizukawa became a partner at Southwest Oral Facial & Implant Surgery in January 2014 after serving as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, from 2012 to 2014. He continues to serve as an Adjunct Clinical Professor at Vanderbilt as well. He is Board Certified by the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons and is also on staff at St. George Regional Hospital (SGRH). A highly-qualified and experienced oral and maxillofacial surgeon, Dr. Mizukawa obtained a B.S. in Neuroscience from Brigham Young University and a Doctorate in Dental Medicine from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas School of Dental Medicine. He completed his oral and maxillofacial surgery residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. He was named the Best Consultant to the Department of Emergency Medicine for his work in emergency medicine and trauma surgery in 2009. He served in private practice following graduation but soon after took the offered opportunity to return to Vanderbilt to teach in the residency program.

While most of his practice is centered around the management of wisdom teeth and dental implants, Dr. Mizukawa continues to enjoy and excel at the full scope of oral and maxillofacial surgery. He provides emergency services at St. George Regional Hospital in managing trauma involving the entire facial region. He has been integral in treating some of the most complex facial trauma cases seen at SGRH, including gunshot wounds to the face and severe automobile accidents. Facial reconstruction is another area that Dr. Mizukawa enjoys, including the reconstruction of facial defects from trauma or tumors using bone from the hip and free vascular flaps from the leg. Together with Dr. Nielsen and Dr. John Mizukawa, he continues to provide corrective jaw surgery to those patients in need.

Dr. Mizukawa is a frequent lecturer at professional organizations and schools and presented at the Anesthesia Update of the
American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) annual meeting, September 2019. He is the lead editor and co-author of “Anesthesia Considerations for the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon,” a comprehensive reference book designed to help practitioners navigate the complexities of office-based anesthesia, including patient evaluation and selection, pharmacology, monitoring, and management of the myriad comorbid diseases in the perioperative period.

In 2017, Dr. Mizukawa was appointed by the AAOMS to be on their Committee on Anesthesia, a committee of about ten oral
surgeons specifically designated to ensure the safe and efficient administration of office-based anesthesia. This committee
constantly reviews current guidelines and policies that govern anesthesia and provides updated recommendations to governing boards on the state and federal levels. Continuing education and training specific to anesthesia are other critical roles that this committee plays in promoting safe anesthesia in the oral and maxillofacial surgery setting.

Dr. Mizukawa is a member of the American Association of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, the American Dental Society of Anesthesia, the American Dental Association, the Utah Dental Association, and it’s local chapter, the Dixie Dental Association, where he has served on the board of directors for several years.

To give back to the local dental community, Dr. Mizukawa and Dr. Wayne Dudley created the Southern Utah Dental Study Club in 2015. It’s membership of approximately 35 locally based dentists meet quarterly for continuing educational topics, practice management updates, and mutual enlightenment through group discussion of complex cases from the community. Dr. Mizukawa continues to maintain a role as a moderator, a regular lecturer, and a facilitator to bring in guest lecturers from universities or specialty practices around the country.

Dr. Mizukawa has long enjoyed rock climbing, mountain biking, hiking, wakeboarding, snowboarding, and camping, and he loves to be outdoors. As a father of 7, he has been alarmed at the continual reports of declines in adolescents’ and teens’ physical and mental health, supported by staggering statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most concerning are the skyrocketing rates of depression, anxiety, suicide, suicide attempts, and suicidal thoughts, as well as self-harm. This is primarily associated with the alarming rate of screen time (television, tablet, computer) in children. In 2018, Dr. Mizukawa and his wife, Julie, founded Get Outside, a non-profit organization in Southern Utah to provide opportunities, education, fellowship, and financial support to kids to get outside and engage in outdoor recreation. Get Outside has established a Club in each high school in Washington and Iron Counties to help kids overcome three main barriers to getting outside: lack of opportunity, lack of education, and lack of finances. His program frequently organizes outside community activities and can be found online at: www.getoutsideutah.org, on Facebook at getoutsideGO, and Instagram: @get_outside_go

Dr. Mizukawa was raised in Ft. Washington, Maryland, but graduated from Pine View High School in 1996 in St. George, UT. He served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Japan Fukuoka Mission from 1997-1999. Upon returning from Japan, he attended BYU, where he met his wife, Julie. They now have seven children and love living in Southern Utah, close to family and the outdoors.