Developing a land-based oral health promotion project with an Indigenous community in northern British Columbia, Canada
In British Columbia, Canada, First Nations children and youth consistently present with a higher incidence of dental disease. Efforts to improve the oral health status of Indigenous populations have had mixed success, and programs have typically been offered through a Western lens. Recent years have...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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CJDH
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9673998/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36451996 |
| Summary: | In British Columbia, Canada, First Nations children and youth consistently present with a higher incidence of dental disease. Efforts to improve the oral health status of Indigenous populations have had mixed success, and programs have typically been offered through a Western lens. Recent years have brought calls for oral health professionals to embrace a more holistic approach to health promotion, representative of Indigenous cultures. Colonization has been considered a negative health determinant as it led to the destruction of culture, language, and the removal of Indigenous peoples from their traditional lands. Self-determination and cultural connection are critical to mitigating cultural genocide. Health promotion projects have the potential to support these goals. Fundamental to decolonizing oral health promotion is the development of a sustainable program founded in the traditional ways of Indigenous health and healing. The purpose of this short communication is to report on a collaborative oral health project that used cultural connection as the framework for oral health promotion in a remote Indigenous community. |
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