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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2003)
Siletz Community “Cha-may weeya ” Medicine Talk Lane Applauds STYLE Prevention Efforts, Encourages More Welcome back, DeAnna. Are you also going to have anything to do with tobacco prevention or American Legacy Foundation and the video project? Are you and Apples going back East in the future? Hope all works out for the tobacco prevention team that made the video. Hope that you people are still work ing on promoting the video and its message so it may reach adolescents who may otherwise take a first puff before knowing the facts of what tobacco usage does to you. Some kids think, “Oh, my mom or dad have smoked for 20 years and they’re still alive.” But what they don’t know is if their mom or dad received education on the effects of smoking before they took their first puff, they may have considered what smoking may have done to them before they took the first puff of a cigarette. The video sends a positive message on the plain truth about the effects of smoking and I think if I was in junior high and had seen this video before I reached high school, I would have reconsidered taking the first puff of a cigarette. I was drawn to the cigs for 32 years before I noticed that it was killing me and in those last two years, I smoked very rarely. But smoking was hard to quit because of the smell of burning tobacco. I was sick every time I smelled it and I knew it would eventually cause me to die before my time if I didn’t say no once and for all. If someone had told me it kills you when I was young, I would never have touched it and smoked all those years. When I started smoking at age 18, smoking was fashionable and made you feel and look more grown up. Everyone in the movies did it. People smoked while they shopped in stores, in public rest rooms, in restaurants, at schools and in public buildings, on commercial airplanes and trains, and it was widely accepted. Now we know the rest of the story, that it’s really deadly and a slow death eventually. I really liked the video and brochure. I hope you folks still can take it to the Indian Education conferences for youth and it should be seen in treatment centers for American Indians because we have so many youth there. If you ever get your hands on an extra video, will you save one for me? I’ll even pay for it if we are supposed to. Apples is a relative of mine and she’s in college now. I want my older sons, who Veterans take part in the weekly welcoming ceremony at Siletz Valley School, which on Nov. 3 was followed by the traditional Veterans Day ceremony. Students in each grade presented poems and songs to men and women who have served in our Armed Forces. Health Clinic Moms and Babies Breastfeeding Circle < unlcdruied Inbe* of Silera tedian* o( Orrfon Brra>ttMduig Pr^raiu 2nd Tuesday of each month 6 p.m. -7:30 p.m. Housing Department Conference Room You’re invited to come eat, visit, and learn about the many benefits of breastfeeding. "ture your baby Nurture yourself —. Contact i^uira Duarte or Harhan Danna. KN. at Ml-444 1030 or I M00-MX (M4M Sponsored by Siletz Tribal Diabetes Grant are 32 and 31, to see the video. They both smoke and have since their teen years. Take care. Pam Lane Editor's note: The projects funded by the American Legacy Foundation media project grant were completed in August 2003. The group of young people who worked on this project recently received $5,000from the Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund to cover their expenses when they present their video, Web site, brochure, and posters to the Warm Springs and Grand Ronde tribal councils, as well as attend the next Oregon Indian Education Association conference. Tooth Talk by Linda Kreutzer, RDH The History of the Toothbrush The earliest record of the “chew stick,” considered to be the primitive toothbrush, dates back in Chinese literature to about 1600 B.C. Chew sticks, made from various types of tasty woods by crushing an end and spreading the fibers in a brush-like manner, are still used today by many Asian and African people. It’s thought that chew-sticks also were used in early Native American cul ture as the original American toothbrush. According to the American Dental Association (ADA), the first docu mented bristle toothbrush was created in 1498 by a Chinese emperor who had hog bristles embedded in a bone handle. The hog (hair) bristle toothbrush came to Europe in the 17"' century, and soon was widely used. Because of its expensive cost, poor families often shared the same brush. In 1728, French people were using horsehair toothbrushes. The first mass-produced toothbrush was made in England in the mid-1800s. The first American to patent a tooth brush was the Wadsworth Company in 1885. It wasn’t until 1938 that DuPont introduced nylon bristles as a replace ment for pig hair, making oral health care much more affordable and desirable among the masses. It’s hard to believe, but most Americans didn’t brush their teeth until soldiers brought the Army’s enforced habit back from World War II. New nylon toothbrushes were easy to afford and for the first time, preventing tooth decay was a realistic expectation. Power toothbrushes came into use in the 1960s. Today, power toothbrush use has reached new levels because almost everyone can afford one. Prices range from a $5 “spin-brush” to a nearly $100 top-of-the-line Sonicare. What does the future hold for the toothbrush? Maybe a whole mouth toothbrush, a large power contraption that cleans all of the teeth at once! Who knows, but it’s clear that toothbrushes have come a long way since the days of wooden chew-sticks. December 2003 □ Siletz News □ 19
