KKV is one of the few dental programs in the country that provides professional educational opportunities through its Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD). This program help to increase access to dental care at the main clinic and also provides Kalihi residents with advanced care provided by dental specialists. This includes specialists in oral surgery, endodontics, prosthodontics, periodontics, pedodontics, and dental public health.

Our program has all the benefits of a large educational institution such as NYU Langone. Along with this, KKV strives to provide each resident with a customized, and well-rounded education focusing on each resident’s experience according to their professional goals by enriching their clinical exposure to their areas of interest. It is our goal to create a rich, robust, and rewarding advanced post-doctoral training. Graduates from the KKV residency program have gone on to careers in private practice, community dentistry and post-graduate programs (endodontics, periodontics, prosthodontics, oral surgery, oral radiology, pedodontics, orthodontics). Notably, over one-third of KKV’s AEGD graduates have chosen to work at community health centers, indicating the value of the KKV AEGD experience informing their preference for serving underserved communities. In addition, many of those who do not work in community health volunteer their time at community health centers either directly treating patients or training current AEGD residents.

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene

Since 2015, KKV has partnered with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene to provide community-based externship rotations for its undergraduate hygiene students. The hygiene program at UH Manoa is the only bachelor- degree granting dental hygiene program in the state. Through this partnership, KKV is able to increase access to preventive dental services and to expose undergraduate hygiene students to the role that hygienists play in increasing access to preventive dental care.