North Texas Dentistry Volume 8 Issue 5 2018 ISSUE 5 DE | Page 12

The Urban
Inter-Tribal
Center
of Texas
community news
by Dr. Philip Lindley
Seated left to right: Philip Lindley, DDS,
Dental Director; Angela Young, CEO
(Choctaw); Standing left to right: Penny
Baker, RDH; Deborah Breshears, Clinic
Director (Alabama-Coushatta)
he Urban Inter-Tribal Center of Texas (UITCT) was estab-
lished in 1971 to enhance the health and socioeconomic
status of American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) who
relocated from Indian reservations and rural areas of the United
States. The Center is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization providing
care to any member of the 573 federally recognized Indian
Nations (variously called tribes, nations, bands, pueblos, com-
munities and native villages) in the United States. There are
approximately 315,000 various tribal members living in Texas.
T
UITCT is located near the UT Southwestern medical district at
1283 Record Crossing Road in Dallas, Texas. UITCT is the only
organization of its kind in the state of Texas that provides AI/AN
a Primary Care Clinic, Dental Clinic, Diabetes Clinic, Behavioral
Health Counseling, and Employment and Training. For these
services, there is a full-time staff of about 40 employees with one
dentist, one dental hygienist and one dental assistant for the
Dental Department.
Historically (1492 and after) with the first mass contact of Euro-
peans, there are estimates of 10 to 20 million indigenous people
in North America representing more than a thousand different
tribes speaking over 600 languages. Each tribe had its own cul-
tural differences and reactions to the mass immigration over the
following 500 years. The immigration from Europe and other
parts of the world brought disease, destruction, displacement,
and death. By the 1890’s there remained only 250,000 to
500,000 American Indians in the United States. It was not until
1924 that AI/AN were granted United States citizenship. After
many acts and treaties with the federal government over the
span of many decades, one of the latest was the Indian Reloca-
tion Act of 1956 to encourage AI/AN to leave their reservations,
acquire vocational skills, and assimilate into the general popu-
lation. Due to the passage of this Act, approximately 20,000
AI/AN relocated to Dallas. That number has now increased to
12 NORTH TEXAS DENTISTRY | www.northtexasdentistry.com
about 80,000 throughout the DFW Metroplex. At present, only
22% of the 5.2 million AI/AN live on reservations.
The Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA) along with
the Snyder Act of 1921 provide the basis of health care for
(AI/AN) according to the treaty and trust obligations of the
United States government. The IHCIA was passed by Congress
in 1976 to address the health status of AI/AN, which ranked far
below the general population.
There are now 40 Urban Tribal Centers in the United States, and
23 have a dental program. Funding for UITCT comes from
Indian Health Service contracts and grants and other Texas state
and federal grants. This funding remains inadequate and vastly
underserves the AI/AN population. Due to lack of funds, dental
services are limited to exams, extractions, restorations and den-
tal hygiene. These services are available Wednesdays, Thursdays
and Fridays for adult patients. Referrals for all other dental care
are a critical part of the services provided. There is a great need
to refer patients for difficult extractions, endodontics, crowns,
fixed prosthodontics, and removable prosthodontics. Referrals
to tribal clinics in Oklahoma are limited due to travel distance,
availability and other referral requirements. Since patients travel
to UITCT from distant places in Texas, some referrals need to be
made to dentists in a patient’s locality.
UITCT developed a relationship in 2014 with the Texas A&M
Department of Pediatric Dentistry to provide dental care for
AI/AN children. Faculty supervised graduate and undergraduate
students treat the children as part of their training program on
Tuesdays.
There is a great need to increase not only the services provided
but also to increase the number of patients treated. This can only
be accomplished by an increase in grants, third-party payments,
volunteers, or donations. It is our hope in the future that there