Sugar

While our taste buds like sugar our teeth don’t. Sugar can cause damage to our teeth such as decay. Tooth decay is preventable. By making a few life style changes you can reduce your chances of decay in your teeth. This will not only help your oral health but your general health too.

Sugar is hidden in lots of unsuspecting places. Products that can appear to be healthy can contain high amounts of sugar. It pays to take a few moments to read the product information on the back of the packet. If you read the amount per 100g, rather than the serving size, you can compare across different products.

Eat at set meal times rather than grazing all day. This gives your saliva time to rinse the food/sugar off your teeth between meals. Make sure to leave at least 30 minutes after eating before brushing you teeth. Otherwise you haven’t given the saliva time to do the first rinse and are just rubbing the food into you gums and teeth. Brushing and flossing you teeth twice a day is the easiest start to good oral health.

Children take their lead from the adults around them. While it is OK to have a few treats from time to time, perhaps rethink making them an every day occurrence.

Tooth decay in children is on the rise which should cause us to stop and rethink our choices. A recent  National Child Oral Health Study found that:

• 1 in 3 children aged 5-6 years have decay in their deciduous teeth
• 4 in 10 children aged 12-14 years have decay in their permanent teeth

The ABC show Ask the Doctor recently aired an episode dedicated to sugar. The majority of the show is about sugar in food and how it can be avoided. It also includes a story about a 3 year old girl who, due to tooth decay, had 6 teeth removed.

If you are worried about your teeth or your have concerns about your children’s’ teeth – make an appointment today!