| Avoid
giving your child foods rich in sugar
that stay in the mouth and prolong
the acid attack (Le, hard candy, lollipops,
and gum). Instead try offering snacks
which are low in sugar. By offering
your child a variety of foods such
as grains, milk and milk products,
meat, vegetables and fruits you can
often avoid having them develop a
“sweet tooth”. It’s
Not How Much Sweets You Eat, But How
Often You Eat Them. They have a mid-morning
snack, an afternoon snack, an after
school snack, a before dinner snack
and a just because snack. We feed
the bacteria in our mouths every time
we eat carbohydrates. Decay occurs
as a result of the frequency and duration
of sugars. Bacteria use the plaque
and food debris remaining on your
teeth to grow, replicate and produce
decay-causing acid. The longer the
food (candy, carbohydrates etc) is
in contact with your teeth, the more
acid id produced and the likely you
are to develop a cavity. Sure, taking
an hour and a half to finish the candy
bar will definitely do little for
your teeth. But, it’s usually
not so much the candy that’s
damaging your kid’s teeth as
the sticky carbohydrates, such as
potato chips and cereals. Frequent
snacking increases a child’s
risk of getting cavities. The frequency
of snacks will increase the risk of
getting cavities more than the amount
eaten at one sitting. The consistency
of the snacks increases the risk of
getting cavities more than the amount
eaten. As long as they’re able
to brush afterwards, there’s
not much harm in allowing children
to snack on the occasional treat.
Many of the foods we eat – including
some of the most valuable foods from
the point of nutrition – provide
nourishment for oral bacteria. They,
in turn, secrete acids that erode
enamel & lead to cavities. |
