V.A. Medical Center, Sepulveda

VA Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center (SACC) is located approximately fifteen miles north of the city of Los Angeles in San Fernando Valley. The Medical Center is close to the junctions of the 118 and 405 freeways. The street location is at the corner of Plummer Street and Woodley. The main gate is on Plummer Street with one alternate gate on Woodley Ave. There are over 50 nursing home patients admitted to the nursing home per year and approximately 20,000 outpatient treatment visits per year

The population treated within the VA hospital setting has significant dental needs. Concomitantly, patients typically have an array of debilitating physical, psychological, and medical conditions that complicate their dental treatment. The residents become highly trained in the management of these complex and difficult patients. The spectrum of dental care ranges from unscheduled emergency procedures to comprehensive evaluation and treatment of eligible inpatients and outpatients, which encompasses virtually all specialty areas in dentistry. Many of the patients admitted to the hospital and nursing home are given routine examinations or referred for dental related problems. Special emphasis is placed on providing treatment to patients with dental conditions associated with or exacerbating compelling medical problems, such as head and neck cancer, spinal cord injury, diabetes, cardiac valvular dysfunction, orthopedic prostheses, and organ transplantation.

The Dental Service provides broad consultative services to ENT, Radiation Therapy, Orthopedics, Psychiatry, Medicine and the Nursing Home Care Unit. 

The program is very clinically oriented and residents spend the majority of the program providing dental treatment on an outpatient basis. Residents obtain significant experience in endodontics, surgical and non-surgical periodontal treatment, surgical placement and restoration of implants, oral and maxillofacial surgery, and complex prosthodontic treatment – both fixed and removable.

Didactic course work include topics in oral pathology, pharmacology, occlusion, medical emergencies, history and physical, and practice management. Treatment planning sessions and literature review discussions also occur on a regular basis.

The Dental Service is staffed by 10 full-time and part-time dentists, including full-time specialists in endodontics, prosthodontics, periodontics and oral and maxillofacial surgery and 4 residents, 2 hygienists, 12 dental assistants and 1 program support assistant. 

Effective July 1, 2024, our program has converted from a GPR to an AEGD. Current stipend offered is $89,261

Those that are selected to interview are interviewed in late November/early December

Stipend $89,261

For more information on program, please reach out to the program director at jane.kwon@va.gov. 

Thank you for your interest in our program.