Dr. José Carlos Polido

Dr. José C. Polido is the Head of the Division of Dentistry at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and an Associate Professor of Clinical Dentistry at the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of the University of Southern California, holding a joint faculty appointment in the Department of Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. The Division of Dentistry at CHLA provides routine and specialized pediatric dental and orthodontic care to over 3,500 children and adolescents each year, most of whom present with a wide range of special health care needs. Dr. Polido has been at CHLA for over 20 years and has focused his career in providing pediatric dental care for the very young children and those with special health care needs. As a Board-Certified Pediatric Dentist, he has particular interest in the access to care issues faced by the pediatric population. He is the Director of the clinical program and a member of the CHLA Craniofacial Team. He oversees the training of pediatric dental residents from the Advanced Program in Pediatric Dentistry of the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC while at CHLA. Dr. Polido is a co-investigator on the U01 NIDCR funded grant “Sensory Adapted Dental Environments to Enhance Oral Care for Children with Autism” and is responsible for the pediatric dental clinical services on the research.  He is fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.