Ewan Bramley Dental Care explores the whole tooth and nothing but!
OK, so us parents like to believe we know how to take care of children’s dental health, but worrying statistics shows us that over a third of children start their school life with tooth decay. So what do we really know about our gnashers?
Worryingly, tooth decay is now the largest cause of admissions to the hospital for primary school kids; that’s according to a study published by the Health & Social Care Information Centre.
Last year alone, almost 26,000 kids aged between five and nine had to visit the hospital for teeth extractions – that’s almost 500 every week!
So as not to scare you too much, the good news is that our general oral health is far better than it was three decades ago, but new studies have shown that our progress is beginning to slow.
Problems such as erosion of the teeth from fruit juice, for instance, is on the increase and many dentists agree that parents need to be educated better when it comes to children’s teeth.
Here are 5 of the biggest myths today!
Fruit juice is good for our teeth
Nope! It sounds as though it should be healthy, but fruit juice, in fact, is as bad for our teeth as drinking a can of fizzy pop. Fruit juice contains a high level of acid and sugar and the later causes tooth decay folks. Acid is known to attack the enamel on our teeth as well which, in the most extreme of cases, can reduce children’s teeth to stumps. Awful, but true!
Dried fruit is a great alternative to sweets like chocolate
Millions of parents were told when they were growing up that dried fruit like raisins are better for you than chocolate and sweets, but sadly, this simply isn’t the case. Dentists really don’t like dried fruit as it’s rammed full of sugar and, because it’s sticky, it rests on the teeth, burning through our enamel and rotting them through. How lovely!
It doesn’t matter if baby teeth rot and decay
OK, so it doesn’t matter if milk teeth fall out because they’re going to fall out anyway, right? Wrong! Because baby teeth don’t leave kid’s mouths until the ages of 10 to 12, they have a blend of adult and baby teeth. Tooth decay in baby teeth will put the developing adult teeth at risk and is much harder to keep them clean!
Kids should brush after a meal
This does have a certain logic to it, but asking your children to brush their teeth after eating is a really bad idea, particularly if they’ve had something highly acidic to eat or drink. Why? Because food is known to dimineralise teeth for up to one hour after it has been consumed meaning the enamel has been softened. So, if you brush straight after a meal, you and your kids could be brushing vital enamel away. Nasty!
Children should rinse toothpaste after they’ve brushed
In fact, nobody, including adults, should rinse after they’ve brushed their teeth because the fluoride present in toothpaste will protect your pearly whites for up to 30 minutes anyway. Many kids don’t like the taste of toothpaste, but it’s important they get used to it to protect their teeth and preserve their oral health.
