V.A. Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, West Los Angeles V.A. Medical Center

Clinical Dentistry Disciplines:

Oral Medicine - Emphasizes the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of soft and hard tissue pathology; diagnosis and treatment prior to organ transplant and head & neck radiation.

Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery - Designed to enhance the oral surgery and maxillofacial surgical skills of the general dentist. Residents manage simple and complex extractions, trauma, biopsy, implant surgery, and hard and soft tissue grafting. This rotation involves inpatient admissions and operating room procedures under general anesthesia.

Endodontics - Designed to provide the general dentist with expertise in the diagnosis, planning and treatment. The resident is given the opportunity to treat emergencies, retreatment including endo surgery, and combined endo-perio therapy. Rotary endo is taught and is available.

Periodontics - Emphasis is placed on the diagnosis and treatment of periodontal disease. Opportunities exist for surgical intervention and maintenance. The roles of nutrition and compromised medical conditions in the development of periodontal disease are emphasized.

Restorative - The resident is given the opportunity to treat a variety of dental conditions and work with a variety of dental materials.

Prosthodontics - Emphasizes the diagnosis, planning, design and treatment of edentulous and partially edentulous conditions utilizing fixed and removable prosthodontics. The choice of apparatus and the prognosis for success of the appliance will be considered.

Maxillofacial prosthetics - The resident will have the opportunity to work with the staff maxillofacial prosthodontists in the construction of surgical and radiation splints.

Residency Program Goals and Objectives:

PGY-1:

1. Act as a primary care provider for individuals and groups of patients. This includes: providing emergency and multidisciplinary comprehensive oral health care; providing patient focused care that is coordinated by the general practitioner; directing health promotion and disease prevention activities, and using advance dental treatment modalities.
2. Plan and provide multidisciplinary oral health care for a wide variety of patients including patients with special needs.
3. Manage the delivery of oral health care by applying concepts of patient and practice management and quality improvement that are responsive to a dynamic health care environment.
4. Function effectively within the hospital and other health care environments.
5. Function effectively within interdisciplinary health care teams.
6. Apply scientific principles to learning and oral health care. This includes using critical thinking, evidenced or outcomes-based clinical decision-making and technology-based information retrieval systems.
7. Utilize the values of professions ethics, lifelong learning, patient centered care, adaptability, and acceptance of cultural diversity in professions practice.
8. Understand the oral health needs of communities and engage in community service.

PGY-2:

1. Broaden and develop the resident’s clinical knowledge and skills in the provision of comprehensive oral health care to veteran patients including patients needing extensive and complex clinical procedures (beyond the level of a PGY-1 resident).
2. To provide a variety of didactic and educational experiences which enhance resident education.
3. To gain invaluable experience in the complex interdisciplinary management of medically compromised patients.
4. To improve leadership skills by having the PGY-2 residents instruct PGY-1 residents, and dental students in hospital protocol.

Program Location:

VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System

West Los Angeles VA Medical Center

11301 Wilshire Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90073

Rotations:

PGY-1:

1. On-Service: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Radiation/Tumor Board/MRONJ, Dental Clearance, Oral Diagnosis Triage
2. Off-Service: Med Consult and Emergency Medicine, Anesthesiology

PGY-2:

1. On-Service: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Radiation/Tumor board/MRONJ, Dental Clearance, Oral Diagnosis Triage
2. Off-Service: Medicine

Off-Service Rotations:

Med Consult and Emergency Medicine (PGY-1):  Two weeks

Anesthesia (PGY-1):  Two weeks

Medicine (PGY-2): Three weeks

*comprehensive description of off-service rotations goals and objectives provided during PASS application submission

**all off-service rotations take place on program site, at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center

On-call Rotation:  Residents and Attending Faculty have on-call responsibilities. Residents are on-call during their oral surgery rotation (approximately a total of eight-to-ten weeks) and are issued a pager during the rotation. The resident must be available to be reached by the pager while on-call. The resident is expected to be within thirty minutes of driving time/distance to the medical center. Historically, on-call rotations do not require staying overnight in the medical center.

Salary/Stipend:  Approximately $85,010 (PGY-1); $87,385 (PGY-2)

Tuition:  None

Health Benefits:  Dental residents are eligible for healthcare benefits through the VA

Blood-borne and Infectious Disease Policies:  Available upon request

Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) Accreditation Status:  Accredited

This program participates in PASS and the MATCH (PGY-1 only):

PASS website: https://programpages.passweb.org/view/929

MATCH website: https://natmatch.com/dentres/

Application Requirements:

An applicant must meet the following requirements:

1. Be a graduate of a dental school accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA)
2. Be a citizen of the United States

*Male applicants, ages 18 through 26, must be registered with the Selective Service System

**All VA Health Professional Trainees (HPT) must comply with VA Federal vaccination and immunization policies.  Requirements may change prior to, or during, your residency.  Request for exemptions is possible but may not be approved.  If you have any concerns, please take this into consideration when applying

***HPT must meet all federal eligibility requirements at VA Facilities per Veterans Health Administration (VHA)/Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA).  To request additional HPT eligibility requirements, please contact Program Director

Application Procedures:

PGY-1 Application:

1. Submit/Upload to PASS:
   1. Curriculum Vitae
   2. Personal statement
   3. Three Professional Evaluation form, one of which must be from the Dean/Associate Dean of the Dental school, and two from the Dental School Faculty.
   4. Undergraduate school transcripts
   5. Dental school transcripts
   6. National Board Dental Examination score(s)
      1. NBDE Part I/Part II, or INBDE accepted
      2. We prefer that candidates take and pass NBDE Part I/Part II or INBDE prior to MATCH Rank Order List Deadline date
      3. We require that candidates/incoming residents take and pass NBDE Part I/Part II or INBDE prior to first day of the residency program
      4. The passing score must be sent to and received by the program prior to the first day of the residency program
   7. Will consider ADAT scores submitted with the ADEA PASS application
2. Required supplemental VA application materials:
   1. Completed VA Health Professions Trainee Data Collection Form
      1. VA Form 10-2850D
      2. https://www.va.gov/vaforms/medical/pdf/VA_Form_10-2850d.pdf
      3. E-mail PDF to: min.chung2@va.gov
      4. Must be in PDF form (ie. photo of PDF not accepted)
   2. 2x2 Photo JPEG (passport size):
      1. E-mail to: min.chung2@va.gov
3. Application deadline:  October 1st

PGY-2 Application:

1. For PGY-2 interest, please contact Program Director (Dr. Min Chung) directly at min.chung2@va.gov
2. PGY-2 applicants must provide documentation of completing a PGY-1 CODA-accredited GPR/AEGD program.