Sugary drinks, your children’s teeth and what won’t ruin their health?

There’s a lot of advice swirling around online about what you should and shouldn’t give your kids

These days it’s pretty hard to miss the fact soft drink is bad for you. Not just because it rots your teeth, but anything that stays fizzy in a can for months is probably not going to do good things to you internally. That isn’t to say you should never drink soft drink, just drink them in moderation.

There’s a mess of information online, and we say mess because that’s what it is. Every health blogger and their household pet have blogged on what you should and shouldn’t give your children.

You might be surprised what drinks aren’t good for your teeth

Fruit juice, pure or not, can still contain an obscene amount of sugar, as can smoothies. If you really want to avoid sugary drinks give your child water. It is that simple.

And while we don’t wish to be discourteous to this people when it comes to oral health it should be left to dentists. Milk is not bad for your teeth provided you brush your teeth before bed. One article ran with the headline “Why a bedtime glass of milk can ruin your child’s teeth”. Which is true. You shouldn’t. But then the only drink you should put your child to bed with is water. Anything else can contribute to ruining your teeth.

The other problem with this article is the misconception that a healthy diet will mean your child’s teeth fine. If you, or your child, are constantly eating you aren’t giving your teeth time to recover. Spreading out meals and snacks is necessary otherwise you’re essentially “bathing teeth in sugar and acid,” and without reprieve teeth become more susceptible to decay.

Each year, in Australia and New Zealand,  35,000 children aged under twelve are admitted for dental treatment to extract decayed teeth, mainly due to excessive sugary diets, mainly junk food and sugary, fizzy drinks.

Here’s a true story: After extracting severely decayed milk teeth from a child a New Zealand dentist asked the parents to stop giving their child soft drinks, to which they replied “but the All Blacks drink them….” The All Blacks also have a small army of doctors, physios, dieticians and nutritionists: and they have all their teeth, and they wear mouthguards out on the field.

Visit your dentist regularly

Decay in milk teeth doesn’t always cause pain. This is just one of the reasons why it’s important to bring your child to Carnegie Dental Group every six months. We can assess their oral health and offer tips and information to help you maintain good oral hygiene. We also offer preventive treatments such as fissure sealants to help fight decay.

Milk teeth are important

What you may not know is how important milk teeth are. They play a role in speech, eating and place-holders for adult teeth.

Also, decayed milk teeth can actually affect the growth and development of adult teeth. So it’s really important to maintain the health of milk teeth for the future development of adult teeth.