Shana Berger Van Cleave, DDS

Dr. Shana (pronounced Shaw-nuh) was born in Los Angeles while her father (Dr. Steve) completed his pediatric residency at UCLA. She attended elementary school in Santa Rosa and later moved to Sacramento and Georgia. She married and had two sons prior to completing her B.S. in Biochemistry, which she earned from University of California, Riverside in 2005. She then attended the University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco, completing their highly acclaimed accelerated three-year dental program. While there, she was active in the leadership of the dental school’s community outreach program, and initiated a research project that earned second place at the California Dental Association convention in Anaheim in 2008. She completed two years of specialty training in pediatric dentistry at UCLA, where she served as chief resident. Dr. Shana’s path to becoming a dentist was motivated by her own son’s health issues. When he was five years old, he had completely stopped growing. His pediatrician was not concerned at first (since his mom and dad were so short), but Shana requested tests that later determined he had the bone age of a 2 year old and needed medical intervention to help him grow. It was at that time the desire to become a health care provider began driving Dr. Shana to complete the ten years of higher education required to be a pediatric dentist. She is thrilled to have found a career that makes her so happy. Dr. Van Cleave has a special knack for working with very nervous patients and kids with special needs. She enjoys singing to her patients and has served at church as the music director for the children’s singing program for over 15 years.