6 Foods That Are Bad for Your Kid’s Teeth
[M.D.S. (Ortho), Fellow ICOI]
Everyone knows that there are a lot of foods and drinks that are harmful to our teeth. Feeding your kids with those foodstuffs frequently may affect their tooth development. So every parent should ensure their kids consume healthy foods in their balanced diet. In contrast, kids are adamant about eating their favorite snacks and drinks as they are not aware of the detrimental effects.
Similar to feeding nutritious, vitamin-rich foods to your little champs, you should limit the children’s intake of foods that are bad for their teeth. We recommend this to all parents who bring their kids for treatment.
In this post, our child dentists have listed the foods, snacks & drinks which are noxious to milk (or) baby teeth.
1) Starch foods
Kids love Starch foods such as bread, pizza, chips, and pasta. Keep in mind that foods high in starch are powerful to ruin your smile because they get stuck in crevices between your teeth. The starch lodged between the teeth breaks down into simple sugars that lead to various damaging effects like cavities, etc.
Hence it is mandatory to consume the starch foods at moderate levels even though the eatable benefits the child’s health.
2) Sweets and Candy
Children would love to eat a variety of candies such as lollipops, tablet candies, sugary gums, candy bars, and much more due to their delicate flavors. You probably know that sweets and chocolates contain high sugar content. Similar to starch foods, candies also stick over the teeth surfaces.
The sugar particles in the candy residue interact with the bacteria and are then converted into acids. It causes enamel erosion. On the other hand, the sugar content tends to bacterial growth and eventually ends in various oral diseases.
We advise every parent to accustom their kids to mouth rinsing after consuming sugary eatables and drinks. It flushes out the sugar residues from their mouth.
3) Citrus fruits
We do not mention that citrus fruits like lime, lemon, orange, grapefruit, pomelo, and others are harmful to your child’s teeth. They are a great source of Vitamin C, essential for strengthening the gums. So you can feed your kids these fruits and juices extracted from them but you should not go overboard with them.
This is because the citric fruits are acidic and the acidic compounds are powerful to corrode the enamel. The enamel layer in baby teeth is softer than the adult teeth.
So it is clear that excessive intake of citrus fruits will do more harm than good to your kid’s milk teeth.
4) Ice Cream
We do not include ice cream in this list because of its fat particles, sugar compounds, flavoring agents that hurt your teeth.
Mostly, the vendors keep ice creams in a freezer to keep the sweetened frozen food fresh. It condenses the ice cream and makes it hard. When a kid bites the hardened ice cream with extensive force, it will make the teeth break down into pieces.
5) Dried fruits
Even though dried fruits seem organic and healthy snacks, they are quite detrimental to our teeth. The water content in a fruit gets exhausted when it dries, it means the fruit does not contain any nutrients and remains like candy.
It means most of the dry fruits available in the market are composed of high sugar content and have a sticky texture. As it mimics the characteristics of starchy foods, your kid will encounter the same consequences like bacteria breeding in the mouth.
Hence consult your dentist to find out which dry fruits benefit the children’s health without damaging their teeth and gums.
6) Sports Drinks
Healthy drinks available in the market such as sports drinks are a source of sugar, citric acid, and high calories that are foe to our teeth and gums. Similarly, various carbonated drinks like soda, sparkling water are also loaded with carbs that ruin our teeth.
Many parents are not aware of this and feed their kids these fluids. Long-term exposure to such fluids with acidic contents will corrode the enamel, cause cavities, etc.
Bottom line
Similar to adding nutritious foods, eliminating certain foods is also a part of a healthy diet. In the meantime, many people are not aware of various foods that may benefit our health whilst hurting their teeth. Feeding those foods to your little champs will affect their tooth development as their teeth are still developing.
Our pediatric dentists have listed the eatables you should stop feeding to your kids. If you have queries or need consultation regarding this, leave a comment here.
