It is often said that a smile says a thousand words, and that may well be true. Whether it’s a toothy grin or even a cheeky smirk, there’s nothing better than seeing your little one smile! And a smile begins with the teeth, so what could be more important than keeping your children’s teeth healthy and happy?

When it comes to dental health, nothing does more harm than sugar. But not all sugars are harmful, and trying to remove them from your family diet completely is not the answer. So to keep our little ones healthy, it’s important that we understand a little more about these sugars, where they come from, and how they affect the teeth.

First of all, what are the three different types of sugar?

Intrinsic sugars

Occurring naturally in foods such as pasta, bread, fish, and potatoes, intrinsic sugars are safer for our teeth than most because the sugars aren’t as readily available. However, they can still cause damage when broken down into sugars in the mouth, where they react with the plaque on our teeth.

Extrinsic sugars (non-milk)

These sugars, found in honey, table sugar, candy, and soft drinks, prove the greatest threat to children’s teeth. Extrinsic sugars can easily lead to tooth damage and provide very few nutrients.

Milk sugars

The naturally occurring sugars present in milk rarely cause tooth decay.

Although intrinsic sugars can cause some damage to teeth, children do require some sugar to fuel their learning and play, not to mention the essential vitamins and nutrients that these food sources present. As long as they’re eaten sensibly, alongside regular teeth brushing, children should eat foods that offer intrinsic sugars.

Now that we know a little more about the three different types of sugar, let’s find out how they cause damage to teeth.

Why do certain foods damage our teeth?

When sugars remain in the mouth for too long, the bacteria in the mouth use the sugar to produce acids that attack your teeth’s enamel, the thin protective covering of a tooth. For this reason, sugars of any kind should be kept in the mouth for as little as possible.

Those foods that stick to the teeth, such as chewy candy, crisps, and dried fruit, should be eaten sparingly, as part of or at the end of a meal, to avoid being in the mouth for too long. This also goes for acidic and sugary foods. Eating them in one go and limiting the time they spend in the mouth restricts the opportunity for the sugars to react with the bacteria and attack your child’s teeth. Thankfully, our mouth does have a defence against these acidic and sticky foods, namely saliva.

Why is saliva so important?

Aside from brushing, saliva is the best friend to teeth. Saliva (produced by chewing) helps dilute chemicals in the mouth, neutralise harmful acids, and moisten food sources so that they are more easily removed from teeth. Small, sugary snacks produce much less saliva than full meals, as they require less chewing. For this reason, it’s recommended that high-sugar foods be eaten along with meals as a dessert, if at all.

But remember, saliva does not remove plaque. Effective plaque removal can only be achieved by brushing.

Now we can put everything we’ve learned into practice and learn how to keep our kids’ teeth nice and healthy.

How do I keep my child’s teeth healthy?

It’s recommended that parents continue to brush their children’s teeth up until the age of seven, as younger children often struggle to effectively clean their own teeth. Setting a timer can be a fun way to get your children brushing while getting in the recommended two minutes.

The longer the bacteria react with sugars, the greater the acid production, allowing for more decay. It’s therefore essential that a regular teeth-brushing routine be established at least twice a day, in the morning and just before bed.

Encourage a healthy, balanced diet that avoids extrinsic sugars. While we all need some sugar in our diet, intrinsic sugars and milk sugars do far less harm to little teeth and are found in healthier, nutritional foods.

It’s hugely important that children receive regular dental check-ups. Find opportunities to visit the dentist as fun as possible with games or sugar-free treats!

It can be a good idea to brush after snacking, especially those sugary and sticky snacks.

Encourage your children to drink milk. Calcium-rich foods such as milk are vital for both tooth and bone development and protect and replace tooth enamel. Cheese, full of substances that inhibit plaque activity, protect teeth, and stimulate saliva production, is another best friend to teeth.

Top Tip: After eating or drinking anything sugary, make sure your child waits for twenty minutes before brushing. Brushing too soon after eating can weaken teeth, as the saliva doesn’t have time to neutralise the acidic sugars.

How do food and drink affect my child’s teeth?

From Unii’s Toddler Nutrition Journey, here’s how what your child consumes affects their teeth.