Liêdo Maranhão de Souza was born in the neighbourhood of São José in the city of Recife, on 3 July 1925. He attended elementary and secondary schools in Recife, graduating in Dentistry fromthe Recife Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy in the late 1940s.

Thirty-one years after the creation of the Odontology School, Dr. Nelson founded, on May 22, 1944, in Recife, the Magitot Hospital, totally dedicated to Odontology, the first of its kind in South America.