Foods that Help or Harm Your Child’s Smile

As a parent living in Yuma, you want to ensure your child’s teeth are healthy — not just for a great smile, but also for their health. A beautiful smile starts early by teaching children good oral hygiene and eating habits. While brushing your child’s teeth is very important, their diet is a major factor in their dental health. Learning which foods to avoid and which can help strengthen your child’s teeth is an excellent starting point to develop a winning strategy for sparkling, healthy teeth.

This guide will help you explore tooth-friendly food and drinks for kids, as well as foods and beverages you should avoid.

Importance of Maintaining Good Dental Health for Children

Your child’s baby teeth may fall out as they get older, but it doesn’t mean you don’t need to teach them good dental hygiene habits. The early years of your child’s life help create a foundation for their permanent healthy teeth. Poor food habits and improper oral hygiene during the first years of life are directly related to dental decay in children.

Kids who get cavities in their baby or primary teeth are at a higher risk of developing cavities in their permanent teeth. This risk is greatest when children have a mix of baby and permanent teeth, as 42 percent of children ages 2 to 11 have had cavities in their primary teeth, according to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.

As a parent, it’s your job to help your child develop a good oral hygiene routine to help them protect their primary and permanent teeth, not just while they’re young, but for the rest of their life.

Common Foods and Drinks that Harm Your Children’s Teeth

What your child eats affects their teeth. While too many carbohydrates and starches, such as potato chips and pretzels, can cause tooth decay, one of the biggest enemies of your child’s dental health is sugar.

Let’s take a look at a few of the worst snacks for children’s teeth.

Unhealthy Snacks for Kids

Want to know what foods are bad for children’s teeth? Avoid the following unhealthy snacks for teeth potentially threatening to your child’s smile.

• Chewy or gummy snacks: Gummy fruit snacks may seem like a healthy alternative to sweets, but they are much closer to candy than real fruit. In fact, sugary gummies can be worse than candy because they stick to the teeth longer than chocolate.
• Caramel and taffy: Candy made with caramel is one of the worst foods for kids’ teeth. Caramel is high in sugar and sticks to the teeth. This stickiness increases the amount of time the sugar is in contact with the teeth and dramatically increases the risk of damage to the enamel.
• Potato chips: While chips may not seem so bad because they do not have much sugar, they are pure carbs, and they get wedged in the teeth easily. The starch in potato chips gets converted to sugar while the chips are still in your mouth. Because they get stuck in your teeth, the effect is even worse than chocolate.
• Sour foods: Foods with a sour coating contain tooth-damaging acid and can potentially harm your child’s teeth. The acid in these foods and candies wears down the enamel on the teeth and contributes to cavities. If your child eats a sour food, have them drink water afterward and wait 30 minutes before brushing their teeth.
• Dried fruits: These sound like a healthy snack for kids. Unfortunately, dried fruits, such as apricots, prunes and raisins, contain highly concentrated sugars once the drying process removes their water. Their gummy texture means this sugar gets trapped on and around your child’s teeth, making them worse than candy in some cases.

Drinks that are Bad for Kids’ Teeth

When it comes to drinks that are bad for kids’ teeth, nothing is worse than soda. A single soda can have as much sugar as a king-sized candy bar and exceed the American Dental Association’s (ADA) recommendations, which suggest people limit their intake of added sugar consumed per day to less than 10 percent of their total calories. For children aged 3 and older, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended they consume no more than 12.5 teaspoons of added sugar per day.

There’s no doubt it can be hard for your child to avoid sugary treats and soda, but they are one of the biggest threat to your child’s oral health. Sugary drinks and foods feed the bacteria in your child’s mouth to create acids attacking tooth enamel, increasing the risk of cavities. Unfortunately, research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates up to 30 percent of kids in Yuma and elsewhere in Arizona have at least two sugary drinks every day.

Even diet soda can be bad for your teeth, with citric and phosphoric acid to damage tooth enamel. Unfortunately, fruit juice can be just as detrimental because it also contains a large amount of added sugar. Water and vitamin D milk are the best drinks for children, although the occasional glass of fruit juice should be OK.

Foods that Strengthen Children’s Teeth and Gums

The best friends of your child’s teeth are foods and drinks capable of stimulating saliva production, supplying minerals and vitamins to repair tooth enamel, and neutralizing or rinsing away acids. And healthy snacks for your teeth don’t have to be boring and flavorless for your child. Even picky kids can enjoy a range of snacks and meals encouraging healthy gums and teeth. To strengthen your toddler’s teeth, focus on dairy, fresh vegetables and fruit. The following are some of the best foods for healthy teeth and gums.

Dairy Products

Yogurt, cheese and other low-sugar dairy products are full of protein. They are also chock-full of minerals like calcium to help protect and strengthen your child’s tooth enamel. These reasons make dairy products the ultimate tooth-friendly foods and drinks for kids, whether it’s cheese or milk. Cheese is also excellent for stimulating saliva to neutralize acids. Here are some good snacks for children’s dental health:

• String cheese
• Yogurt mixed with strawberries, blueberries or raspberries
• Cheddar or Colby-Jack cheese on whole-wheat crackers
• Graham crackers with low-fat milk
• Parfaits made with low-fat yogurt, fresh fruit and granola
• Smoothies made from low-fat flavored yogurt and fresh fruit

Lean Protein

Poultry, fish and eggs are all high in protein and phosphorus, which help fight demineralization of the enamel of your teeth. You can feed your kids lean protein as a snack or meal, and some of your best options include:

• Eggs
• Chicken
• Turkey breast
• Shrimp
• Beans
• Tuna
• Tilapia

Fresh Vegetables

Veggies are beneficial snacks for children’s dental health for several reasons. Vegetables aren’t rich in sugar that can harm teeth and cause cavities. Because veggies are high in fiber and water, they help neutralize sugars and clean the teeth. The act of chewing vegetables also stimulates the production of saliva to wash away food particles and bacteria.

Here are some recommendations for kid-friendly vegetable-based meals and snacks.

• Apples: While the ADA encourages people to avoid most sweets, apples are a clear exception. They’re high in fiber and water to increase saliva production and rinse away bacteria. Encourage your child to eat an apple after a meal, or pack apple slices in their lunch.
• Carrots: Your child can enjoy carrots raw or roasted, which brings out their sweetness.
• Celery: You can make celery more appetizing to young children by topping it with reduced-fat cream cheese or peanut butter.
• Leafy greens: Kale and spinach, just to name two examples, are an excellent source of calcium and folic acid to guard against enamel loss and gum disease. Try teaching your child to enjoy a small salad before a meal. You can also try adding spinach to a pizza or a fruit-and-veggie smoothie.
• Broccoli: High in vitamin C, broccoli can play a positive role in fighting gum disease.  Try adding broccoli to a stir-fry, or mash it and mix it with mashed potatoes.
• Sugar snap peas: Both kids and adults enjoy them raw or cooked.

Nuts

Nuts are high in protein, good fats and minerals, and are great for overall health. Nuts are also low in carbs that contribute to tooth decay when converted to sugar. Chewing nuts like almonds, cashews, peanuts, walnuts and macadamias can also stimulate saliva production.

Encourage your child to eat a handful of nuts as a snack. Unlike sugary treats, nuts contain a high amount of protein, helping your child feel full and repressing the urge to keep snacking before lunch or dinner.

Healthy Beverages for Your Children’s Teeth and Gums

The following drinks are best for maintaining healthy teeth.

• Water: Water is the main ingredient in saliva and the best way to rinse away sugary drinks and food. Fluoridated water can also strengthen the enamel of your teeth to prevent decay.
• Milk: Dairy products, like milk, stimulate saliva to neutralize bacteria, while the high calcium content helps replace minerals leached from the enamel by acid. Always encourage your child to drink milk or water over fruit juice or soda.
• Tea: Black and green tea are high in polyphenols that suppress or kill bacteria. Researchers have found these components in tea can attack the harmful bacteria in your mouth to reduce the risk of cavities and gum disease.
• Black coffee: Coffee can stain teeth, but it’s also rich in polyphenols, helping fight bacteria in the mouth that cause cavities. Of course, if you add cream or sweetener to your coffee, you negate this effect.

Other Tips to Improve the Health of Your Teeth When Eating

Every kid loves to eat sugary snacks, but too much sugar can lead to a lifetime of severe consequences. The best way to help your child enjoy good oral health as an adult is teaching them good habits when they’re young.

The following tips can help you choose foods to strengthen toddler teeth while limiting their sugar intake.

1. Be careful with juice: Fruit juice may sound healthy, but it can contain large amounts of calories and sugar. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends avoiding all juice for children before their first birthday . Children up to 6 years old should have no more than six ounces of juice per day. This limit increases to just 12 ounces at the most for older kids.
2. Watch for added sugar: Always read the label when choosing food for yourself and your family. The American Heart Association advises children should consume no more than 25 grams of sugar each day — but a single can of soda can exceed this limit. When reading labels, remember one teaspoon is equal to four grams of sugar. Keep your child’s sugar intake below the recommended amount.
3. Use a straw with sugary drinks: It isn’t so much the sugar causing damage to your teeth as how long the sugar remains in contact with your teeth. If your child does drink sugary beverages like soda or juice on occasion, be sure they use a straw to help limit sugar contact with their teeth and reduce the risk of cavities.
4. Chew sugar-free gum after eating: Get in the habit of chewing sugar-free gum or gum with xylitol after meals, and encourage your kids to do the same. While you may have considered sugarless gum to be a candy, it helps protect your teeth from cavities and carries the ADA Seal of Acceptance. We mentioned the importance of saliva in preventing cavities, and chewing gum increases salivation, which helps neutralize acids produced by food. It also helps kill and wash away bacteria in the plaque on your teeth.
5. Finish meals with a high-calcium food: Foods rich in calcium, like milk, yogurt, nuts and cheese, help protect the enamel on your teeth by coating them with phosphorus and calcium to remineralize the teeth. Strong enamel helps guard against bacteria that cause cavities. Finish your meals with a glass of milk or a handful of nuts for a boost of enamel-protecting minerals.
6. Limit fermentable carbs: Carbohydrates all break down into a simple sugar, like glucose or fructose. Some carbs do not begin to break down until they move into the digestive tract, but fermentable carbs will break down while they are still in your mouth. These carbs work with bacteria in your mouth to form acids that damage the enamel on your teeth and lead to cavities. Examples of fermentable carbohydrates include cookies, cakes, breakfast cereals, bananas, crackers and bread. Instead, provide your child with whole grains like brown rice, oatmeal and whole-wheat bread.
7. Avoid turning to snacks too often: Frequent snacking makes it much easier for bacteria to multiply in the mouth and create plaque on your child’s teeth. Limit snacking to help your child avoid cavities. With more time between meals and snacks, saliva will be better able to wash away particles of food.
8.  Don’t brush your teeth right after eating citrus foods: The citric acid in oranges, limes and other similar foods temporarily weakens your tooth enamel, making your teeth vulnerable to erosion when you brush your teeth. Wait at least 30 minutes after eating citrus or drinking before you brush.

Schedule an Appointment with a Dental Professional

Brushing your child’s teeth twice a day is essential to maintain good dental health, but it isn’t enough to overcome a diet high in carbs and sugar that attack the enamel. Regular visits with a dental professional keep your child’s teeth healthy and prevent cavities. The ADA recommends starting dental checkups early, or within six months of your child’s first tooth.

If you’re concerned about how your child’s diet is affecting his or her teeth, or it’s time for your child’s regular checkup, contact us to set up an appointment with a friendly Yuma, Ariz., dental professional.

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