Many middle school students were able to participate in a special presentation by members of the the National Taiwanese Dental Association. Led by Dr. Lai, Hong-Min, DDS, MSD, MS, President of the Taiwan Dental Health Care Organization and clinical instructor at the Taipei Medical University Shuang-Ho Hospital, Dr. Wang, Jung-Chang and Dr. Sun, Man-I, Nurse Ms. Lai, Min-Hua, Nurse Ms. Tai, Hui-Tzu spent time teaching our students the benefits of flossing and even had them practice. We are thankful to Ms. Joanne Hsieh , of the Lawrence S Ting Memorial Foundation, for bringing this beneficial program to our school.
In an earlier health lesson, students learned about the impact of smoking shisha on their bodies. Shisha lounges are available in the Phu My Hung area as well as in many parts of Ho Chi Minh City. Many students thought that there were no ill effects caused by shisha. They were shocked to learn that smoking shisha can be worse than smoking cigarettes. Because middle school students are trying to express their independence, many may want to experiment with cigarettes and alcohol. It is important for parents to talk with their children about the dangers of this experimentation. Learn more about shisha and the impact it can have on a person’s health.
The following information is provided by the British Heart Foundation:
What is in a shisha pipe?
Shisha pipes use tobacco sweetened with fruit or molasses sugar, which makes the smoke more aromatic than cigarette smoke. Popular flavourings include apple, plum, coconut, mango, mint, strawberry and cola. Wood, coal, or charcoal is burned in the shisha pipe to heat the tobacco and create the smoke because the fruit syrup or sugar makes the tobacco damp.
When you smoke shisha, you and anyone sitting near you are breathing in smoke which releases toxins including carbon monoxide and heavy metals –reducing your body’s ability to carry oxygen around in your blood. Visit our smoking page to find out more about the effect that smoking has your body.
How harmful is shisha smoking?
Traditionally shisha tobacco contains cigarette tobacco, so like cigarettes it contains nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide and heavy metals, such as arsenic and lead. As a result, shisha smokers are at risk of the same kinds of diseases as cigarette smokers, such as heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease and problems during pregnancy.
It’s difficult to say exactly how much smoke or toxic substances you’re exposed to in a typical shisha session.People smoke shisha for much longer periods of time than they smoke a cigarette, and in one puff of shisha you inhale the same amount of smoke as you’d get from a smoking a whole cigarette.
The average shisha-smoking session lasts an hour and research has shown that in this time you can inhale the same amount of smoke as from more than 100 cigarettes.
Some people mistakenly think that shisha smoking is not addictive because the water used in the pipe can absorb nicotine. In reality, because only some of the nicotine is absorbed by the water, shisha smokers are still exposed to enough nicotine to cause an addiction.
