Sugar Is the Main Cause of Childhood Cavities

2 OUT OF EVERY 5 KIDS have at least one cavity by the time they finish elementary school. The main reason is sugar.

Bacteria Love Sugar As Much As We Do

Harmful bacteria living on the surfaces of our teeth love eating the leftover sugar after we enjoy a sweet treat or drink. Then they excrete acid onto our teeth as a waste product, increasing our risk of tooth decay. So what can parents do for their kids’ teeth? A big improvement parents can make is to swap out sugary snacks for options like cheese or sliced fruits and veggies, which are also much healthier overall.

This time of year, it can be hard to avoid sugar, but this hygienist has some tips:

Sugar Is Hiding in Your Child’s Favorite Drinks Too

When it comes to sugary drinks, juice and soda are full of sugar and highly acidic, and even milk contains sugars. These drinks are most dangerous to a child’s teeth when sipped over the course of hours, as this acts like a continuous acid bath, preventing their saliva from washing away residue and neutralizing the pH of their mouths. We urge parents to restrict access to drinks other than water except during meals.

Be an Example of Good Dental Hygiene

Finally, parents should model good dental hygiene habits and schedule regular dental visits for their kids. Limiting sugar intake can’t make up for a lack of daily brushing and flossing!

Video Transcript

hey hey it’s the month of october the month of halloween a lot of us are thinking about candy yes me included i know i’m a hygienist i am guilty of loving sweets so today let’s talk about the worst and the best candies for your teeth let me just start by saying having no candy at all is the best candy right but i also feel like it’s okay to splurge on halloween as long as you are brushing twice a day and flossing at least once a day every day of the year also one more thing before we get to the list we care

more about the frequency and the length of time candy is sitting on your teeth opposed to how much candy you eat so what i mean is if you eat all of your candy in one sitting and rinse with water really well after and brush and floss it’s actually better than snacking on small little candies throughout the day maybe your stomach would beg to differ but it’s really bad to snack throughout the day because then that candy’s like constantly on your teeth all day it’s truly better to eat it all at once

and get it done it’s a double-edged sword right but your teeth are the priority of this video not your stomach so let’s do this one of the best candies for your teeth is chocolate specifically dark chocolate but chocolate is one of the easiest candies to wash off your teeth why am i saying chocolate even before talking about sugar-free candy is because chocolate truly washes off your teeth so easily if it’s just plain chocolate you can lick it off pretty well drink some water swish it

it’s not too sticky it doesn’t sit on your teeth like a lot of other candies that we’ll talk about in the worst candies and please keep in mind that dark chocolate has less sugar than milk chocolate so dark chocolate is the way to go if we’re talking chocolate another best candy for your teeth is sugar-free candy mints gum all that kind of stuff like we kind of said when i mentioned chocolate i mean sugar-free is in the name we know sugar is bad for your teeth so sugar-free is better and there’s even evidence to

support that some sugar-free gum or mints or candies can actually be a positive addition to your home care routine but keep in mind that not all sugar-free candies are the same and a lot of these candies actually contain other bad chemicals that are detrimental to your health in other ways so cool for your teeth we’re talking teeth but maybe not something to binge on because it might not be great for the rest of your body i would go for the dark chocolate another best candy for your teeth are candy bars with nuts so i realize

that most chocolate candies are not plain chocolate you know unless it’s like a hershey’s bar or something i love hershey bars but yeah most chocolate candies contain sticky stuff like caramel marshmallow filling or nougat type stuff so if you’re going to pick a chocolate candy that is not plain chocolate go for one that has nuts in it because nuts can help break up any stickiness of candy when i was researching this i saw that kind bars are a great example you know the kind bars but i don’t know

how i feel about that because i don’t really feel like that’s a candy kind bars are kind of like a granola bar right but hey if you consider it a candy go for it in my opinion a hershey bar with almonds is like your best bet a dark chocolate hershey bar with almonds now let’s talk the worst candies for your teeth one of the worst candies for your teeth is sticky and gummy candies just like the words themselves sticky and gummy will stick to your teeth longer and we all know that the sticky foods always get stuck

in the hard to reach area so when you do floss you’re more likely to floss and miss those hard to reach areas also on top of these sticky and gummy candies sour sticky or gummy candies are the absolute worst like gummy worms or sour patch kids because they are super acidic acidity can wear down the enamel of a tooth so not only can you get cavities because it’s gummy or sticky but because it’s acidic it can wear away your enamel which makes your tooth easier to chip or break also a lack of enamel can make

your teeth temperature sensitive so yikes stickies and gummies and sour are the absolute worst i got two more though let’s keep going another one of the worst candies for your teeth are hard candies and lollipops you might think to yourself like oh those are barely even touching my teeth i’m just licking the lollipops just on my tongue or whatever no very bad hard candies like a lollipop can break your teeth if you’re not careful and we tend to kind of like keep those in our mouth for a long period of time

like we mentioned at the beginning of this video frequency and length of time that candy is in your mouth are some of the worst qualities of candy for our teeth so red flags all around with the hard candies and the lollipops it’s like when you leave something like that in your mouth for a long time your saliva starts getting mixed with all those sugars saliva is the stuff that’s supposed to wash away the sugars so whiskey mixed with it this is no no bueno and lastly but definitely not leastly

one of the worst candies for your teeth are popcorn balls although popcorn seems like a safe not really a candy candy it’s actually one of the worst because not only can the kernels get stuck in between your teeth causing harm to the gums but popcorn balls are usually sticky balls of popcorn meaning they are stuck together with good old sugar again so a double whammy sticky causing cavities and kernels causing gum issues i hope this video helped you please like and subscribe if it did if you want to

learn more about cavities and how to prevent cavities i have a bunch of cavity specific videos which i will link in the bottom row below and if you want to learn even more about healthy gums and healthy teeth you can visit my website teetstalkgirl.com happy halloween be safe brush your teeth flush your teeth peace love and teeth what if i crack the teeth demonstrating i gotta go floss

The Dentist Is a Great Resource

All the things parents can do at home to encourage great dental health are very important, but don’t forget that you’re not in this fight alone! The dentist can help. If you have concerns about your or your child’s teeth or gums, schedule an appointment. We can identify any problems and determine the best next steps to take. And regular preventative appointments are important too!

We’re rooting for our patients to stay cavity-free this Halloween!

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