Day Five of the 7 Day Dental Bootcamp is all about the dangers of drinking – and we don’t mean alcohol!
Most kids can’t resist a cold sparkling can of drink and the occasional one isn’t going to do too much harm. However, most kids drink more than the occasional can of pop. And what’s more, they drink it throughout the day, which makes it more damaging.
Drinking fizzy pop, sports drinks and even fruit juice unfortunately coats your mouth with sugar for bacteria to feed on and produce acid that attacks tooth enamel.
As your kids will have learned from Day Four of the Bootcamp, limiting these acid plaque attacks during the day is a great way to give your teeth a break. This means only drinking these drinks at meal times when your saliva is working at it’s hardest to wash away food particles and bacteria. Or, better still, drinking tap water which not only rinses out your mouth, but doesn’t contain any acid and, in many parts of Australia, has the added benefit of containing fluoride. (Why is fluoride important)
The fact sheet on “Your Child’s Diet” has some great tips on the best way to drink sugary and fizzy drinks like using a straw for example. You’ll also find some information in there that might surprise you about why you shouldn’t brush teeth straight after drinking pop.
Exercise
Again, this one sounds easy but your kids will probably find it harder than they think.
Cut out all fizzy, sugary and sports drinks at least between meals for the entire day. Even better try and cut them out completely and drink tap water instead.
That’s it! Your kids will find it tough but it’ll be good for them
