“How can I manage my child’s dental health yet allow him to eat sweets?”
My child is 4 years old and like any other child loves chocolates and sweets. I have been seeing advertisements that link sweets and chocolate consumption to cavities. What can I do to prevent cavities in my child yet let him enjoy chocolates and sweets?
17 Answers
Limit sweets. Brush and Floss after a sweet snack.
Let them eat sweets. As soon as they brush and floss their teeth after eating the sweets, they should be okay.
As a parent I would limit the frequency and only allow your child to eat a sweet with meals making sure your child has his or her teeth brushed immediately after.
Moderation for how much candy he is eating and brush his teeth after eating it
Limit the amount of sweets, no sugary drinks or soda...water! After sweets, rinse with water and brush
Sugar, sweets and chocolate give you and your child cavities. Tooth decay is a disease and the consequences include pain, big dental bills, and many bad things you would never want for your child. get rid of all the candy and sweets in your house. tell your child that sweets have tiny bugs in them that eat holes in your teeth and he should not eat any of it. If you don't make a firm commitment now, you will regret it. Tell him if he ever eats sweets, he must rinse the bugs out with a lot of water. Teach him about fruits. they are sweet and they don't have bugs in them. Tell him you will buy him all the fruits he wants and let him taste a lot of different ones and always have some in the house. The bugs actually do form after you eat sweets but that is too complicated at his age. Also, you can buy sweets made with Xylitol which is all natural, tastes like sugar, and won't give him cavities. Tell him this is the only candy without bugs.
Most children love a chocolate treat! Sugar and acetic foods are the leading cause of cavities in children. You can prevent cavities by allowing the child to have the chocolates as occasional treats rather than a daily routine. Also, brush their teeth thoroughly once they are done eating!
The best way to do this would be through appropriate oral hygiene. If you have to let your child enjoy sweets the best is to spread the snacks at least 3 hours apart. Unfortunately, it is risk vs benefit. When it comes to this the benefit is to let your child enjoy sweets but the risk is cavities. If you are going to let them enjoy this food on a regular basis they will inevitably get cavities.
Teach your child that sweets are for dessert after a meal. If he or she had a sweet or chocolate and it's not mealtime then he or she should at least rinse with water after or brush their teeth. Try to limit the sweets to dessert, however. And tell Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts and Uncles the same. Good luck!
The best thing to do at his age is for you to floss and brush his teeth to make sure you clean them well. Also you can moderate the amount given to the child. Because sugar is not healthy to the whole body.
You can manage your child's dental health and yet allow him to eat sweets by seeking dental visits to the experienced dental hygienist. The dental hygienist guides you the way and right tips to maintain good health of your child. Truly, dentists know how to handle the dental health of a child by simple ways.
Hello there and thank you so much for your question.The best way to prevent cavities and yet allow your child to enjoy chocolates and sweets is by making him to eat all at one time and always during the day, never at night and after he finishes, you ought to brush his teeth immediately.
Amy G. David
Dentist
Sugar and carbohydrate consumption is definitely related to cavity formation. Every time we eat sugar or carbohydrates, the bacteria in our mouth do to!! The important thing to consider is frequency, not quantity, of consumption. The worst thing you can do is to munch or sip on something sugary or carby throughout the day. It is better to drink your coke or juice, and eat a cookie with lunch, than in between meals. Then rinse out with water after meals. Brush twice a day and floss a night. If you are more cavity prone, or live in an area without fluoridated water, a fluoride supplement can be helpful as well.
Yes, too much sugar can cause cavities as well as other health problems such as diabetes. You can always try to substitute with healthy snacks such as fruit and vegetables, and if still can't control it, make sure he brushes at least twice a day with rinsing after each meal and see a dentist twice year for cleaning and check up. Also, you can show him kids videos how too much sugar affects teeth and health. Also, remember you're the parent to always be in charge of his food habits.
There are two keys to allowing your child to enjoy sweets and still not get cavities: 1. Twice daily very good tooth-brushing and flossing is essential. Most 4-year-olds cannot be expected to do a very good job of brushing and flossing; therefore, parents must help. A minimum of two full minutes of good brushing followed by flossing at least once/day is the first key. 2. Limit sweets/candy/sugared drinks to mealtimes only. It usually is not the amount of sweets the child eats that causes cavities. It is the frequency. At meals, there is usually something with sugar already. Adding a piece of candy is not going to make things worse. Rinsing with water after a meal that contains sugar will help also. If this is too much work, be ready for some dental bills.
Frequency of eating sweets or drinking sweet beverage is bad for the teeth as it causes softening of the teeth, once the sugar is broken down into an acid that makes the teeth more prone to decay. If your child eats sweets, she or he must try to rinse their teeth immediately afterward and reduce the frequency of intake to once a day with proper brushing and flossing.
The answer lies somewhere between effective parenting, behavior modification to control the amount of sweets your child is exposed to during these formative years of their dentition. This will provide the foundation for good habits all throughout life and part of the reason toothpaste taste as it does is so that it wipes clear the taste of sweets and replaces it with a hygienic coding that includes fluoride. Once this routine is established 3 times per day as recommended by the American Dental Association it takes the place of craving sweets at such a young age especially as a reward. The final thing I would come in on his make sure that you get routine visits to your dentist twice a year to make sure fluoride is properly applied as a preventive to the surfaces of the teeth that are exposed to the additional sugar your child may be getting. Then I think you covered all the bases and you can hope that the only source of sweets are what you control yourself.
