As a parent, naturally, you do everything in your power to make sure your child is healthy, safe, and happy. A part of keeping your child healthy is providing him or her with a good diet that’s full all the vitamins and nutrients growing children need. When you’re planning meals, it’s important to know that there are foods that may be healthy for your child’s body but unhealthy for their teeth.
Your Amarillo kids dentist and his friendly team or children’s dental professionals have put together the following information about a few surprising things you may be giving your child that are bad for his or her teeth.
Gummy Vitamins
Those fun colored and great tasting gummy vitamins kids love might provide essential minerals and vitamins, but are actually harmful to teeth. With their gummy & sticky texture, these vitamins get stuck in grooves and crevices in and between teeth, which promotes cavities to develop. If you want your child to take vitamins, skip the gummy type and choose a dry, chewable vitamins instead.
Fruit Juices & Sports Drinks
It comes as a big surprise to many parents to learn that the fruit juices and sports drinks they let their kids consume are real cavity-causers. Not only do fruit juices contain lots of sugar, but they’re also high in harmful acids that pack a one two punch and eat away at the protective enamel on your childs teeth. Sports drinks also contain sugar and acid, to make them unfriendly to teeth. If you want your child to get the vitamins from fruit juices, give him or her just one serving per day, or dilute the juice down with water to reduce the amount of sugar. And instead of providing your child with sports drinks, offer him or her a nice big glass of ice water instead!
Granola Bars & Dried Fruit
Most packages of dried fruit and nearly all granola bar wrappers state that these snacks are healthy because they contain vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and fiber. But these snacks also contain high amounts of cavity-causing sugar, plus they stick to teeth long after they are eaten, to make matters even worse! To keep those sugar cravings at bay, give your child something better like a handful of grapes, an apple or a banana that isn’t overly sticky or loaded with processed sugar.
Other Foods & Snacks to Avoid
Some other foods that are bad for children’s teeth include crackers, chips, and pretzels that stick to teeth and contain simple starches that convert to sugar almost immediately after consuming. Another seemingly harmless snack that can crack or break a tooth is popcorn. It only takes one bite down on a hard kernel to do some real damage to a tooth. Rice cakes are great alternatives to these starchy snacks so have some on hand to offer your child when he or she craves something salty!
Visit Our Amarillo Children’s Dentistry Office!
While it’s your job to keep your child happy, healthy, and safe, it’s our job to make sure your child can enjoy all the many benefits that come with having healthy teeth and gums! If it’s time for your child to visit our Amarillo pediatric dentist for a routine examination and professional cleaning, give us a call at (806) 351-0008 or use our handy online form to request an appointment with Dr. Metcalf. We look forward to seeing you both in our office soon!