Poor dental health can really set your child back. Studies show that kids with untreated tooth decay miss more school and have lower grades than kids with healthy teeth. Fortunately, you can limit your child’s intake of harmful foods while increasing their exposure to the foods that strengthen their teeth.
At Kids Dental Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, board-certified pediatric dentist Dr. Bosede Adeniji guides our pediatric dentistry patients and their parents in making healthy choices to establish good dental health. Today we’ll cover the best and worst foods for your child’s teeth.
There are plenty of delicious and healthy foods that can help protect your child’s oral health. These include:
Fiber-rich fruits and veggies, such as celery, carrots, broccoli, berries, and apples, help remove bacteria and plaque from teeth. These foods can also promote saliva production, which helps protect your child’s teeth from sugars and starches while restoring essential teeth-strengthening minerals like calcium and phosphate.
Dairy products like cheese, milk, and plain yogurt contain high levels of calcium and phosphates to strengthen your child’s outer shell of tooth enamel and even help rebuild lost tooth enamel.
Water and toothpaste provide most of the fluoride your child needs — but did you know that your child can also get fluoride from some foods? Fruits, especially grapes (and raisins) have high fluoride content, as do veggies like potatoes and spinach.
The worst foods for your child’s teeth include:
High sugar foods, such as breakfast cereals, candy, cookies, and some carbonated sodas, are
terrible for your child’s teeth. They attract damaging bacteria that can essentially dissolve tooth enamel. Carbonation, found in many sodas and some types of candy, contains a lot of acid which can weaken and break down tooth enamel.
Starchy foods, like rice, bread, and crackers, contain a lot of sugar. These foods also tend to be squishy and sticky, clinging to teeth and causing serious enamel damage.
Very chewy foods, such as dried fruit, gummy bears, and taffy, are often very high in sugar. They also tend to lodge in small crevices between teeth and get stuck. Chewy foods can sometimes be so challenging to eat that they could lead to a cracked or broken tooth.
Dr. Adeniji and our pediatric dentistry specialists go the extra mile to develop a great rapport with your child, and we’re also here to help you establish the best dental health for your child. If you need to schedule a checkup or discuss protecting your child’s teeth, contact us online or call the Kids Dental Center office today.
