Tribal Oral Health Webinars

• August 29, 2023-Hormones and Oral Health
• February 17,2023-National Children's Oral Health Month

Read more here about the dental therapy fix Congress must add to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act!

2016 Oral Health in Indian Country Survey

Over the last several years, the National Indian Health Board (NIHB) has been bringing together stakeholders including Tribal leaders, Tribal health directors, Area Indian Health Boards, Tribal Epidemiology Centers, funders, and public health leaders to explore solutions and develop recommendations to address oral health disparities and the lack of access to oral health treatment and prevention services in Indian Country, especially as relates to the dental therapy model. It is no secret that oral health care access is one of the greatest health challenges Tribal communities face. However, in order to get a clearer picture of these challenges, NIHB developed an Indian Country Oral Health Survey in 2016. The National Indian Health Board developed, distributed, and analyzed the results of the Oral Health Survey in 2016 in order to:

1. Understand the extent of some oral healthcare disparities in Indian Country,
2. Gauge Tribal familiarity and interest in the dental therapist model.

You can see the analysis of the survey below. NIHB also participated a webinar on the results of the survey. You can see the slideshow at the link below.

• Oral Health in Indian Country Survey Analyses (PDF)
• Perspectives on Tribal Oral Health Access Webinar (PDF)

2018 Tribal Oral Health Assessment

In 2018, NIHB created an Oral Health Assessment to measure the interest in Tribal leadership in bringing dental therapy to their own communities. NIHB designed this assessment based on the experiences of the survey open to the public conducted in 2016; however, the 2018 assessment was open only to Tribal leaders, health directors, and dental directors. This change was designed to measure the interest in dental therapy among the people most able to bring it to Tribal communities.

You can see a summary of the 2018 Tribal Oral Health Assessment results at the link below.

• 2018 Tribal Oral Health Assessment Results (PDF)