The influence of diet is greatly underestimated by most parents. In fact, diet sometimes has more influence on dental health than oral hygiene. In other words: you do less damage with a tooth-friendly diet and sloppy oral hygiene than with a poor diet and good oral hygiene. But it's actually not that difficult.

A FEW BASIC RULES:

NOT THE AMOUNT, BUT THE FREQUENCY

The teeth need about 1 to 2 hours to recover from a meal or drink! Eating a lot at once is much less damaging to the teeth than constantly snacking. So eating a handful of gummy bears at once does relatively little to the teeth, but the same amount spread over a few hours does!

NOTHING IS FORBIDDEN

Are you surprised? There is no need to forbid anything, the only question is when and how you eat something. Create fixed rules as soon as possible: juice is only allowed with meals, water in between. Sweets are allowed as dessert, not in between meals. By the way: children absorb more sugar on average from drinks than from sweets!

AND AT NIGHT?

At night, no saliva is produced that could clean the teeth and neutralize the acids. Therefore, anything that goes into the mouth at night is much more harmful! The evening bottle can remain a beloved ritual, as long as it is done before brushing teeth!

HOW ABOUT BREASTFEEDING?

As dentists, we are also absolute advocates of breastfeeding. It is good for the development of muscles and jaws and is certainly the best food for your child. However, if the first teeth are already there, it becomes dangerous at night. At night, children often only suckle briefly while breastfeeding, then fall asleep again, suckle briefly again... The milk stays in the mouth and spreads everywhere, the saliva does not work and the dreaded early childhood caries can develop.

DRINKS THAT ARE GOOD FOR DENTAL HEALTH

There is really only one option: water!The caries bacteria only need a minimal trigger to get going. Even a highly diluted juice starts the mechanism. And in a bottle it is even more damaging. Therefore, the bottle should be replaced with a cup as soon as possible, and juices or other sweet drinks - even if they are diluted (!!!) - should only be consumed with meals.

NUTRITION FOR HEALTHY DENTS

Unfortunately, not everything that is healthy for the body is also good for the teeth. The caries bacteria do not care whether the sugar comes from household sugar, brown sugar, honey or agave syrup. Unfortunately, they can use all of them. Whether the biscuits are organic or not is also irrelevant from a cariological point of view. Dried fruit is also extremely high in sugar! With its vitamins and other ingredients, fruit makes an important contribution to our health. Unfortunately, the combination of fruit sugar (fructose) with fruit acid creates perfect conditions for the caries-causing bacteria in our teeth. If you have to chew the fruit, at least the flow of saliva is stimulated and the teeth are well rinsed. Unfortunately, this does not happen with the so-called squeezable fruit snacks. In general, fresh vegetable snacks and cheese are the best snacks for children from a dental perspective!Let us advise you.