Meet The Doctors

Dr. Howard Polk

Dr. Polk hails from Jackson, Mississippi. He received his DMD from the University of Mississippi School of Dentistry and also completed a general practice residency. He then practiced general dentistry for 2 years at the Yakima Valley Farmworkers Community Health Clinic in Yakima, Washington before entering endodontic residency at the VA in Long Beach. He joined this practice in Los Alamitos upon completion.
 
Dr. Polk is a member of the American Association of Endodontists, American Dental Association, California Dental Association, Harbor Dental Society, Orange County Dental Society, and California State Association of Endodontists.
 
Dr. Polk is married to Dr. Vallie Polk, a veterinarian practicing in Huntington Beach. Together they have 3 children and enjoy soccer and mountain biking.
 
 

Dr. Philip Livingood

Dr. Livingood believes in providing thorough, quality-focused patient care in a comfortable environment. He aims to establish a personable relationship with his patients and referring dentists through open dialogue and evidence-based education of treatment choices.  Striving to practice at the highest level, Dr. Livingood regularly attends continuing education courses, routinely exceeding California’s mandated minimum standards.     

Dr. Livingood maintains membership with the American Association of Endodontists, American Dental Association, California State Association of Endodontists, California Dental Association, and Harbor Dental Society. In addition to his private practice Dr. Livingood has been an attending endodontist at the Children’s Dental Health Clinic at Miller Children’s Hospital in Long Beach.           

A transplant from Phoenix, Arizona, Dr. Livingood has called the Golden State his home for most of the past twenty years. His formative years of academia and running with the cross country team at Westmont College progressed into a scholarship with the US Army at the University of Colorado School of Dentistry in 1998. From 2002-2006, the US Army Dental Corps took him to Germany and Iraq. Dr. Livingood’s calling for specialty training became apparent when he deployed to Iraq in 2005. With the nearest military endodontist in Germany he was exposed to more challenging endodontic cases. This led to an intellectual curiosity that culminated in pursuing specialty training at the VA Hospital Endodontic Residency Program in Long Beach in 2006.

For six years Dr. Livingood worked in an endodontic private practice in downtown San Francisco, while also providing lectures and mentorship to general practice dental residents at the SF VA Hospital. After the inability to recognize his shorts from years of storage, and at the urging of his son’s desire to live closer to a swimmable beach and his wife’s family, Dr. Livingood’s family decided to embark on the faithful journey back to Southern California in 2014.