Toddler teeth and keeping them safe - Advice from our dentist

We had a family six month check up at the dentist on Friday. NHS dentist. Fantastic. B remembered to ask advice about drinks for Abbie, as it is something we've been wondering about lately, as I've started allowing her to have sips of my squash and offering her watered down squash and orange juice, in addition to the usual tap water, whole milk or 'tea' (1 part hot water from the kettle, to 2 or 3 parts whole milk). The advice has clarified things so thought should pass it on.

Direct from the dentist's mouth:
  
Watered-down squash and juices are ok (i.e., not normal concentrations but as weak as possible) as long as:
 -  Offered at meal times only (between meal time drinks should be just milk or water)
- Drank from an open cup (not from a baby bottle teat / sippy cup / straw / sports cap bottle, which concentrates the sugary drink to a small surface area, i.e. the central front teeth, causing more damage to the young teeth).

This advice makes me wonder why so many sugary children's drinks, whose sugar content is damaging enough (I'm thinking of fruit shoots, according to a 2009 Which? report "...Robinsons Fruit Shoot orange juice drink, with each 200ml bottle containing 23g of sugar – the equivalent of almost five teaspoonfuls."), are allowed to be sold with the added combination of the doubly-damaging design for drinking the stuff?! When I was young, we just moved from bottle/breast, to lidded beaker, to open cup. None of these fancy non-spill contraptions, e.g., toddler straw cups, were available that are now flooding the market, and I'm glad for my teeth's sake (I have no fillings by the way).

Looking into this more, in 2009, more than 36,000 children were admitted to hospital for tooth decay and the number was rising.  In June this year, the British Dental Health Foundation released a factsheet to help parents understand how to protect their children's teeth. The stats then included that "...one third of children under the age of five in the UK continue to suffer from dental decay". 

"Judy More, paediatric dietician and Forum member explains: "Parents often think that tooth decay in children's first teeth is not important as they will grow their adult set in any case. However, the first teeth are just as important as adult teeth as early loss of the first teeth can lead to overcrowding when adult teeth appear."

To download the free guide, click here. The factsheet also includes ideas for nutritious snacks*, as well as instructions for drinks. Surprisingly, they do not recommend anything from the nasties list below!

More lunchbox nasties (Which? 2009):

• Fruit Shoot orange juice drink: Each 200ml bottle has 23g of sugar, almost five teaspoons.
• Kellogg's Frosties Cereal and Milk bars: Made up with seven different sugars, the 25g bar is almost a third sugar.
• Fruit Factory fruit strings: A 24g portion of fruit strings contains 13.7g of sugar.
• Munch Bunch Double Up fromage frais: Contains more than two teaspoons (12.4g) of sugar, but only 2.25g of fruit puree. (I've already rejected Munch Bunch 'nutrition', see old blog)
• Dairylea Lunchables Ham 'n' Cheese crackers: Contains 1.8g of salt, more than half the daily allowance for a four- to six-year-old.

*Quick list of friendly foods snacks (from Factsheet)

• Fruit mouth-sized chunks, cubes or slices of apple, pear, satsuma, orange, banana, kiwi, melon, strawberries, sliced grapes, peaches and plums
• Raw vegetable sticks or slices carrot, pepper, celery, cucumber, sliced cherry tomato, radish, broccoli
• Toast, breads, rolls, baps, breadsticks, plain buns
• French bread with a small amount of butter or spread; mini savoury sandwiche with marmite, cheese, tuna, banana, salad or thin slices of meat; pitta bread pockets cut into small slices or toasted with or without butter or spread e.g. olive or sunflower oil spread; breadsticks on their own or with a dip or soft cheese
• Oatcakes, rice cakes, crackers, crispbreads, melba toast plain or with butter or spread e.g. olive oil or sunflower oil spread, or use a savoury spread, such as marmite or peanut butter
• Natural yogurt or fromage frais on its own or as a dip or with fruit
• Muffins, plain, potato or cheese scones, crumpets, pancakes, plain popcorn on their own or with a small amount of butter or spread
• Wholegrain breakfast cereals, but not cereal bars serve with milk and fresh fruit

Last thought...

Dental Caries: Who'd want to be responsible for this?