Metcalf competes in national semi-
finals of elks Hoop Shoot contest
Maddy Metcalf will represent Oregon
when she participates in the national semi-
finals of the Elks Hoop Shoot contest in
Vancouver, Wash., on March 1.
Maddy already has won three contests
to reach this point. In the bracket for girls
age 10-11, Maddy won the local competi-
tion in Toledo, Ore., by making 14 of 25
free throws.
She moved on to the district competi-
tion in Tillamook, Ore., where she made
16 of 25 shots. She became an Oregon
state champion by making 20 of 25 shots
in outshooting six other girls during the
state contest in Salem, Ore.
Maddy’s mom, Chuvonne Metcalf,
says an Elks representative mentioned that
Maddy is the first youth from the coast to
win the state competition.
If Maddy wins the semi-final contest,
which includes competitors from Oregon,
Washington, Idaho and Alaska, she will
move on to the national finals in Spring-
field, Mass., on April 10-13.
Donna and Warren Woods will celebrate their 60 th Wedding Anniversary
on March 2 nd . They were married in 1954 in Stevenson, Washington.
They married at a time when it wasn’t legal for a native and a white
person to marry in Oregon. Warren served in the Marines while Donna
worked. Their next adventure was owning Chemawa Store. After a few
years they moved to California and started a new chapter in their lives.
Donna and Warren raised their family in San Diego. After retiring they
returned to Oregon. They lived in Salem for a bit and then decided to
move closer to the ocean……so they settled in Otis. Donna took a WEX
position (parttime) at STBC. (That was several years ago.) Donna says
every year she is retiring….Donna and Warren have 2 daughters, 4
grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.
Congratulations on your 60 th Anniverary!
Courtesy photo
Maddy Metcalf
Siletz Tribal Head Start
If you have not sent in an application for your child to attend Siletz Tribal
I hope
can it’s
get not
into too
the late.
main
part Tribal
of the Head
paper. Start always accepts applications.
Head this
Start,
Siletz
Please call us today at 541-444-2532 or 800-922-1399 to request that an appli-
cation be sent to you. Applications also are available online on the Tribal website
(ctsi.nsn.us) and at the Siletz, Salem and Portland area offices.
Pow-wow style dance classes
Pow-wow style dance classes will be held at the Siletz Tribal Community
Center at 11 a.m. on March 29.
Instructors are Tony Whitehead and Sara Bell-Tellez.
Tooth Talk: Side effect of braces is great smile when teeth fit together well
By Mary Ellen Volansky, EPDH, MS
Braces have a bad rap, a cosmetic one.
Maybe that is the only reason for walking
around with wire cages around all of one’s
teeth for a couple of years.
The real reasons take last place. As
I see it, the real reasons are much more
important to our overall health.
When teeth don’t fit together well, the
dental profession calls that malocclusion.
Is it important that teeth fit together? Yes.
The upper jaw and its teeth are set
slightly wider than the lower jaw. This
offset of our teeth allows for the cusps
(points on the grinding portion of a
tooth) of the upper teeth to fit into the
grooves of the lower teeth and vice versa.
When this doesn’t happen, it is called a
crossbite, which can occur with anterior
or posterior teeth. 1
If cusps fit end-to-end, chewing
would not be efficient. Our mouths
wouldn’t close. Our molars would provide
a cutting or puncturing motion, like our
teeth in the front of our mouth, rather than
the chewing or pounding motion we use
to mash our food and mix it with saliva
for swallowing and digestion. 2
With our two jaws offset, this place-
ment allows for the protection of our
cheek and tongue during chewing or
mastication. The upper arch is offset
above the lower jaw toward our cheeks.
This keeps our cheeks from getting bitten
when we chew.
The lower jaw is set narrower than the
upper jaw. The lower jaw is set toward the
tongue. This helps keep our tongue from
the biting surfaces of our teeth. We still
do bite our cheek and/or tongue, but for
other reasons.
Sometimes this biting really hurts.
People can develop calluses from fre-
quently biting the same area. Calluses also
can develop when we chew our cheek as a
habit. Good occlusion keeps these painful
experiences from happening every time
we eat. 3
Braces can correct many types of
malocclusion – crowded teeth, misaligned
teeth, crossbite, overbite, underbite or
open bite. 4
Speech depends on our having teeth,
which we learn early in life. Whether
front teeth are missing because of decay
or trauma, people without their front
teeth tend to lisp. This is true for anyone
without their front teeth.
The letters or sounds that are difficult
to pronounce without front teeth are S, Z,
SH, CH, and J. 5,6 Sometimes lisp happen
when front teeth are not placed correctly
for these sounds to be made. Braces can
correct this particular cause of a lisp.
Another risk with malocclusion is
psychosocial stress. This stress arises
when malocclusion causes facial changes,
changes from what is expected.
Things that can cause facial changes
include teeth that don’t come together
when the jaws are closed, open bite, some-
times the lips don’t come together, overjet,
crossbite, cleft lip, crowding, wide spaces
between teeth and teeth turned or over-
lapping each other. People with any of
these malocclusion(s) have been known
to experience teasing, harassment and low
self-esteem. 7
Malocclusion also makes brushing
and flossing more difficult. Will floss fit
easily between tight or overlapping teeth?
Will the person brush around the twisted,
overlapped or recessed teeth?
We once called some foods nature’s
toothbrushes. These foods are able to
rub against teeth and act almost as tooth-
brushes. In malocclusion, those foods
don’t get to scrub against the teeth as we
eat. Nature’s toothbrushes are hard foods
like carrots, apples and celery.
With malocclusion, any chewing of
food could face interference. If teeth don’t
fit together, then chewing and even biting
doesn’t happen as efficiently, if at all.
If one’s teeth don’t come together in
front, an open bite, this may prevent the
person from biting through an apple. If
the back teeth don’t come together, then
chewing that apple isn’t happening or it
takes longer to chew.
Sometimes our cheek or tongue can
get pinched. Chewing sufficiently is nec-
essary to mix our food with saliva and
make the food we eat into small enough
chunks that our digestive system can do
its work in our stomach and intestines.
All these symptoms of malocclusion
are sufficient to have braces. But there
are two more reasons – cavities and peri-
odontal disease.
If our teeth are not cleaned efficiently
by our home care and the natural action of
our teeth in eating, we are at greater risk
for cavities and gum disease.
Home care with malocclusion takes
more thought and skill, more time to be
efficient. The toothbrush and floss must be
worked around the overlapping teeth and
into the space caused by recessed teeth.
The gum tissue can become red and bleed
at these areas and both are signs of early
gum disease or gingivitis.
If you have questions about your
teeth or a loved one’s teeth, schedule an
appointment for an exam. If you have
questions about malocclusion, you can
ask your dentist what can be done during
this appointment.
So once a person has the courage
to wear braces and the determination
to struggle through the discomfort and
awkwardness of those wire cages, isn’t it
nice that the reward is more visible than
improved overall health. The reward (side
effect) is a wonderful smile.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
mylifemysmile.org/glossary. Glossary of
Orthodontic Terms, American Association of
Orthodontists
MedlinePlus , U.S. National Library of
Medicine NID National Institutes of Health,
Malocclusion of Teeth, Causes, p.1
Ibid, p. 1
Darla Burke, medically reviewed by George
Krucik, MD, Aug. 20, 2012, p. 1.
pammarshalla.com/blog/2012/05/lateral-lisp-
missing-teeth-and-malocclusion/Lateral Lisp,
Missing Teeth and Malocclusion
British Orthodontic Society, The Justification
for Orthodontic Treatment, p. 7.
Malocclusion Traits, Symptoms and Signs of
Temporomandibular Disorders in Children
with Severe Malocclusion, Liselotte Sonnesen,
Merete Bakke and Beni Slolow, European
Journal of Orthodontics 20 (1998), 553-559
March 2014
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