Tooth decay bothering your kid? Six foods and drinks to avoid

Taking proper care of your children’s teeth prevents future decay, gum disease and bad breath. Tooth decay and gum disease often leads to pain, sleepless nights and tooth loss. Tooth decay mostly occurs when plaque (a sticky colorless deposit) stays on your teeth too long.

Healthy habits such as brushing and flossing can prevent plague from accumulating and causing your child bad teeth problems. However, giving them certain foods increases teeth decay risks. Foods that are bad for your kid’s teeth include

Citrus

Citric rich fruits like oranges, grapefruits, lemons and tangerines have a high amount of acid in them that can lead to tooth enamel (the hard, outer surface layer of your teeth that protects against tooth decay) erosion.  Enamel erosion makes your child’s teeth more vulnerable to tooth decay as the enamel can no longer give adequate protection. It is therefore advisable for you to rinse your child’s mouth once they’ve taken any of these foods.

Candy

Sugar does not cause dental cavities but rather create conditions for them. Hard and stick candy remains in your child’s teeth where saliva may not reach to dissolve and later mixes with bacteria found in the mouth to form plague. Brushing teeth and drinking plenty of water will reduce candy caused teeth troubles in your child.

Energy drinks and carbonated drinks

These usually brightly-coloured and sugar-filled drinks have higher acid levels than other popular drinks since they are packed with sugar or caffeine and other natural ingredients. When taken constantly, these drinks erode your child’s teeth by reducing the minerals in the tooth enamel and also the dentin (a yellowish, calcified tissue underneath the tooth enamel). This eventually leads to cavities and decay.

Tea

Giving regular tea to your child may begin with staining their teeth. This is because tea contains a substance called tannic acid, which gives it the dark color. Sweetened tea is bathed in sugar, which encourages erosion and dental cavities.

Super starchy foods

Starchy foods such as potato chips, pasta and white bread contain sugar whose content is not easily measured since they are not sweet. Their digestion start in the mouth and they break from starch to simple sugars which endanger your child’s teeth. The simple sugars remain in the mouth and join other bacteria to promote a tooth decay friendly environment. You should encourage your child to brush their teeth after consuming any of these foods.

Canned fruits

While canned fruits come in handy when most fruits are out of season, they come soaked in sugary syrup which may be damaging to your child’s teeth. All that syrup coats your kid’s teeth and works with unhealthy bacteria to promote cavities and tooth decay.