First Teeth and Decay

Your children's teeth are amazing. They're tough, perfectly shaped, and even come with their very own defense mechanism - a protective layer of enamel. However, children's enamel is not as strong as adult enamel.

When we eat food or drinks containing sugar, the bacteria on our teeth turn it into acid, which attacks the enamel. Over time, saliva neutralizes this acid, but if your children eat a lot of sugary foods or drink sugary drinks, their teeth will be exposed to more acid, more often - that's when teeth can start to decay.

To help protect your children's teeth from decay, it's good to limit how much sugar they have and how often they have it. To give their teeth the best start in life, you might want to steer clear of cookies, cakes and sugary drinks on all but the most special of occasions.

Encourage them to stick to vegetables, cheese, milk and water between meals. If you offer them fruit juices, they should be diluted 1 part juice to 10 parts water and given in a cup with a straw.

So What is Acid Erosion?

Fruit juice and carbonated drinks (even diet ones) are often acidic. If your children drink them often - especially from a bottle - the acid can lead to erosion of the enamel in their teeth. This is different from tooth decay because rather than being focused at a specific point, acid erosion attacks the whole surface of the tooth at once by eventually making the entire protective surface of enamel thinner.

This can make the teeth sensitive, and can also make them more vulnerable to decay. But there are some simple ways it can be avoided:

• Only put milk or water in bottles.
• Always dilute fruit juice with water: 1 part juice to 10 parts water.
• Restrict carbonated drinks and fruit juices to mealtimes. Between meals, give them milk or water.
• Encourage children to use a straw, directed to the back of the mouth, if you give them soda or fruit juices. This will mean the acid will have less contact with the teeth.
• Don't let your children swish drinks around in their mouths.
• Don't brush teeth immediately after your children have had an acidic drink.
• After you've brushed their teeth at night, make sure children only have water to drink. Immediately after brushing, teeth are even more vulnerable to tooth erosion.