Partner With a Children’s Dentist to Cut Out Sugar

For a children’s dentist, there is no greater joy that seeing a child smile with delight when they are successfully treated. It takes a special commitment to children to specialize in pediatric dentistry, including additional training specific to children’s dentistry. Our training is important due to the uniqueness of what it takes to work with a child. Children are less likely to know what their issues are or be able to explain them coherently. At the same time, children are more likely to be afraid. This is in addition to having teeth, gums, and jawbones that are not fully developed yet. Since their health and emotional needs are different than adults, it is important to take your child to a dentist that is trained on how to work with children and comfortable doing so.

We know that, by and large, parents will make the right decision for their children. We also know that, very often, children tend to get their own way with parents and are certainly not equipped to make healthy choices. For example, children have an extremely unhealthy love affair with candy and snacks that contain high levels of sugar. As a children’s dentist, we know that this is very bad for a child’s teeth and should be restricted to no more than a couple of times per week. A recent study found that this is far from the case. According to the study’s findings, 60% of parents will allow their children to have a snack, which is high in sugar content, at least once per day. Additionally 14% of parents will  allow their child to snack on these kinds of snacks more than three or four times in a single day. Of all the parents that were surveyed only 25% of them were in keeping with a dentist’s preference, restricting their children to having these kinds of snacks less than a couple of times per week. Overall this is a trend that we must work together to reverse. Luckily since parents make good decisions for their children, this is a situation that can be changed.  We hope that, similar to the 93% of parents that brush their children’s teeth at least once or twice per day, parents will take a stand with us against sugary foods.

Since there is no scenario where we can conceive sugary foods no longer being a part of the equation, we look to reform instead. We are working with parents to come up with ways to minimize the damage to teeth and also to have a plan for reducing the amount of these foods that a child eats per week. The easiest way to minimize damage caused by sugars to the teeth, which often manifests as cavities, is to rinse the teeth immediately after the child has had something with a lot of sugar, including sugary drinks and soda.  As a children’s dentist, we also recommend chewing sugar-free gum with Xylitol for children and adults that are on the go.  This will provide immediate help in the fight against bacteria.  The best solution, however, is to brush immediately so if you are at home, brush your child’s teeth after a sugary snack.