Tips and Facts About Child Tooth Decay

Child tooth decay is a serious concern within the dental community throughout the United Kingdom. More and more school aged children are being hospitalised within the country each year to have their teeth extracted for tooth decay that is so bad it cannot be treated in the dentist chair.

Tariq Drabu, a leading dentist and specialist oral surgeon, the owner of Langley Dental Practice has advised that there are tips and facts parents and teachers need to know to help reduce tooth decay in our younger generations. The good news is that tooth decay is preventable, as long as parents start implementing a good oral health routine from an early age and understand what causes tooth decay to reduce their risk of their children suffering moving forward.

Processed baby foods

Tariq Drabu mentioned that a high number of parents assume because baby food is made specially for children, it doesn't contain any sugars. This is a big mistake as a large number of processed baby foods have a very high volume of sugar. Tariq Drabu recommends that parents make their own baby food, so they can control the amount of sugar their baby eats on a daily basis.

He also advised that a high number of parents still add sugar to their home made baby food when they start introducing their baby to solids, this should be avoided at all costs.

Sugared foods and drinks

Parents believe that a flavoured water or a fruit juice is safe for their children to drink over fizzy drinks, but the fact is that flavoured waters and even fruit juices contain sugars. Tariq Drabu recommends that children should be given a glass of milk or water. Water is fantastic at quenching thirst and will keep the child hydrated, while milk is brimming with calcium which promotes health teeth and bones.

The facts

Tariq Drabu advised that the facts surrounding tooth decay in children within the United Kingdom is worrying with fifty percent of eight year olds having some degree of tooth decay in their milk teeth and one in three five year olds suffer from tooth decay.

Parents need to watch out for certain ingredients in foods and drinks to ensure that they eliminate sugars effectively. Sugars are:

• fructose
• glucose
• lactose
• sucrose

In addition to this, all children should be brushing their teeth twice a day. Once right before bed for a full two minutes and then again after breakfast before they head to school.