Leadership and Legacy: Oral Health Milestones in Maternal and Child Health Promotion and Prevention OHRC
Indian Health Service logo

1955

  • Indian Health Service established

Background

The provision of health services to members of federally recognized Indian tribes grew out of the special government-to-government relationship between the federal government and Indian tribes. This relationship, established in 1787, is based on Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution and has been given form and substance by numerous treaties, laws, Supreme Court decisions, and Executive Orders. Dental services were initiated in 1913 with the employment of five itinerant dentists who traveled among the various Indian reservations, primarily providing pain-relief services. In 1921, the Snyder Act (Public Law 67-85) authorized appropriations and expenditures for the administration of Indian affairs, including the relief of distress and conservation of health through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Indian Health Service (IHS) was established within the Department of
Health and Human Services in 1955 to oversee federal health services for the Indian people.

IHS is the principal health care provider and health advocate for Indian people. Its goals are to ensure that comprehensive, culturally acceptable personal and public health services are available and accessible to Alaska Indian/American Native (AI/AN) people, to assist tribes in developing the capacity to staff and manage their own health programs, to provide opportunities for tribes to assume operational authority for IHS programs in their communities, and to be the primary federal advocate for AI/AN people with respect to health care and to assist them in accessing programs.

Impact

IHS provides health services for approximately 1.9 million AI/AN people who belong to 564 federally recognized tribes in 35 states. Oral health services are a high priority of the IHS population and make up a significant part of overall health services provided by IHS.

Sources

Broderick E. 2001. Oral Health for the First Americans. Presented at The Face of the Child: Surgeon General’s Conference on Children and Oral Health, June 12–13, 2000.

Indian Health Service. Indian Health Manual [website].

Indian Health Service. Indian Health Service Introduction [website].

Kuschell-Haworth HT. 1999. A History of Federal Indian Health Care.

Public Law 67-85, The Act of November 2, 1921, The Snyder Act.

Previous Milestone

Back

Next

Next Milestone
Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size Back to Top Print Share