Parents confusion over 'Healthy' treats

As parents we all want our kids to enjoy a healthy lifestyle and we carefully select the foods that we allow them to eat from an early age.  

What seem to be healthy choices are not always good for your teeth and it is this fact that has led to confusion amongst parents and unfortunate rates of decay amongst children.

The Health and Social Care Information Centre reports that almost 26,000 children in England aged between five and nine have been hospitalised for multiple tooth extractions in 2013-14 - that's the equivalent of almost 500 a week.

It's hard to know what is right when it comes to diet, on one hand you have guidelines such as 'Eat your 5 a Day'- great advice however what this guidance fails to tell you is that many 'healthy' fruit based snacks and drinks contain some of the highest concentrations of sugar and are therefore very bad for your teeth!  Don't misunderstand our intentions, we are not suggesting you stop giving your kids healthy fruits and vegetables but if you want to ensure their long-term tooth health we have some simple steps you should follows:

1. Restrict high sugar/acid foods and drinks to meal times, this includes fresh fruit
2. Avoid giving your child high sugar drinks including fruit juice and fizzy drinks (even sugar free varieties) stick to water wherever possible
3. If you must give your child a snack between meals, try and restrict these to 'tooth friendly' snacks, low in sugar.  Always check the labels for hidden sugars, foods you may think are a great choice can often be very high in sugars!

Check out this article for more information.

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