A Note to Parents About Your Child’s Diet and Oral Health

Categories: Dental Health

I imagine that most of you don’t feed your children the typical American breakfast cereals and donuts, but I imagine you know of other moms and dads who do. Maybe you can be a good influence on them if you hear these facts. Really incredible how horrific the cereal companies are in that they count on deceptive measures to try to convince parents that they are going to bat for us and are on our side. Trust one thing – they are ONLY on the side of financial gain.

It’s not normal for kids to get decay. Stay off of juices, sippy drinks and fruit gels of any kind. Water, water, water. Only. Anything else is a TREAT, reserved for a special occasion. If they play sports, again, WATER. Stay completely away from PowerAde and Gatorade and all the trendy sports drinks. They are fatal for decay. Soda, also. If you have been under the misconception that juice is a must, and your child has grown accustomed to juice, begin diluting it gradually until it is simply a splash of juice in a cup of water.

Stay away from the sour candies and sticky candies. Dried fruits are also a big danger.

Eat fruits in their “whole” natural state for the fiber and to keep from sudden blood sugar rises that are always consistent with fruit juice drinking. Do not allow fruit juices to be had, even if 100% natural. If you are juicing at home, use primarily veggies in the juicing in the ratio of 4 or 5 servings of veggies to one serving of fruit.

This info goes for EVERYONE.

If juices are a part of your life or your family’s life for any reason, always make a habit of rinsing and swishing with water immediately afterwards. Then swallow the water. But do your best to eliminate them as a part of your routine by diluting as mentioned above.

Do NOT brush within 30 minutes of ingestion of fruits and other sweets, as you do not want to brush the acid residue into the teeth.

And speaking of water, I recommend Reverse Osmosis water but you must add minerals to it as water is a prime source of minerals. We just don’t want the toxins. You can get a system put on your home faucet or can get gallons of it at Whole Foods.

Make sure your infants are checked at birth for tongue and lip ties and if you need instructions for what to do after the tongue tie or lip tie releases, please email me. I have some very specific instructions I give my patients. This is a really important step in the growth and development of the jaws and the face and in the prevention of snoring and sleep apnea, as well as many other behavioral and medical issues in life.

If your child snores or grinds his or her teeth at night, you have a child who is not breathing properly. This is what we call sleep disordered breathing. It’s important to find a dentist skilled in treating this EARLY on. There is so much to raising a healthy babe, but we can get kids through life cavity and periodontal disease free if we work with them early. Get them in for their first dental appointment by the time they are 6 months to 1 year old, whether or not they have teeth.

Call us to make an appointment. 757.223.9270 pwdentalarts.com