National Children’s Dental Health Month: Waging the War on Sugar

Kids love sweets, there is no doubt about that. Unfortunately, they're full of sugar which - in high quantities - can significantly alter a child's physical and emotional wellbeing.

Sugar is found in almost everything we consume, from the obvious sweet foods like chocolate and cakes to processed foods and microwaveable dinners. February is National Children’s Dental Health Month and this year the dental community is waging its war on sugar. We are learning more and more about the harmful effects that sugar has on our bodies. So it’s no surprise that sugar is also extremely harmful to our teeth, especially kids’ teeth.

Sugar hides in some of the most unexpected places. As parents looking after the dental health of your children, it’s very important to read labels and check for sugar content while grocery shopping. One of the most common hiding places for sugar is in our children's favorite drinks. Even juice and milk can be loaded with harmful sugar. Regulating what drinks your children consume and introducing regular dental exams early in your childrens' lives are critical in helping to prevent your child from developing a very painful toothache and to treat any dental decay in its early stages.

So how can TePe help you keep your kids' teeth as clean as possible and prevent them from being in pain? We have awesome child-sized toothbrushes with fun, animated designs.

Here are a few suggestions I often give parents:

1. Let your kids be independent and brush their teeth on their own
2. Even if they are brushing their own teeth, you should always be checking to make sure they actually brushed.
3. Brushing your kids’ teeth isn’t always the easiest task, so one item I like to suggest to parents of small children is the Compact Tuft brush. This is a great brush with a very small head and densely packed bristles. This brush allows you to get in your child’s mouth without bumping their teeth and you are able to really scrub the chewing surfaces.

For some great answers to frequently asked children’s dentistry questions such as “when do I start to take my child to the dentist” or “are baby teeth really important” visit The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry’s website.

I hope this information helps point you in the right direction to prevent those painful toothaches for your children and to get you thinking about children’s dentistry this month!