What is the Drink’s Impact on Your Kid’s Teeth?

Unhealthy drinks or beverages are more likely to damage oral health in children as compared to adults due to lower teeth mineralisation content in children’s teeth. Sugar, acidic content, and artificial food colour are the main culprits in the drinks and beverages that affect the kids’ dental health. 

Professional Dentist London guides parents and kids to protect their dental health by avoiding unhealthy drinks and choosing alternative options to stay hydrated and healthy.

Let’s Explore the Drink’s Impact on Your Kid’s Teeth

Water: The Best Drink For Dental Health

Water is the best drink, it naturally cleans the tooth surface, removes food particles and is full of essential minerals and ions that require a body to stay healthy without any harmful components.

Hydration: Water maintains the body’s essential minerals in kids, regulates the body’s physiological function and increases salivary flow in the mouth.

Improve salivary flow:  Water increases salivary flow in the oral cavity, cleans plaque, controls bacterial growth in the oral cavity and protects teeth against tooth decay.

Neutralized oral PH: Water neutralizes the PH of the oral cavity, especially after acidic beverage intake, proper mouth rinse after acidic juices or soda neutralizes the oral cavity environment and prevents dental problems such as tooth erosion in kids.

Artificial Juices

Most parents offer artificial juice for the kids to stay hydrated, the sugar content and artificial flavour make it popular among the children, but it badly affects the dental and overall health of the children.

Sugar: Artificial sugar in the juices causes dental cavities in kids, and prolonged slipping of these juices causes metabolic diseases such as diabetes in children at a young age.

Citric Acid: Citrus acid in juices and lemonade affects the tooth surface, and children’s teeth easily erode due to their soft and less mineralized enamel surface.

Artificial Colour: Artificial colours are added to the juices to make them attractive and enhance their taste, but it causes teeth discolouration and other harmful effects on the body.

Alternate way to intake: Different healthy options are available such as fresh fruits, vegetable juices, smoothies and milkshakes, they keep kids hydrated along with completing all the body’s essential nutrients.

Fresh Juice

Artificial sweeteners and colours are not added in fresh juices, and they are good sources of vitamins A, C, E, vitamin B12 and other essential minerals. Fresh fruit juices have natural sugar, and increased intake of these natural juices can affect the dental health of kids, parents can offer natural juices in dilute form, properly rinse the mouth, brush their teeth after sipping natural juice and avoid natural juice intake at bedtime.

Eat fresh fruits: The best way to use fruit in raw form or slices, it has fibre that removes dirt particles from teeth and makes teeth and gums stronger.

Flavoured Milk

Milk is a good source of calcium and vitamin D; it keeps teeth and gum stronger. Flavoured milk is available in the market, to enhance the taste artificial sweeteners, colour and flavour are added to milk. As milk is naturally sweet due to lactose further addition of artificial sugar causes increased dental decay instead of making teeth stronger.

Alternative Solution

Fresh dairy milk:  Fresh dairy milk is a good source of calcium and vitamin D. Dairy milk has less sugar content as compared to flavour milk, it protects teeth and stay body well hydrated.

Plant-based milk: Lactose intolerance is a common problem in kids that causes difficulty in milk digestion, use other alternative ways such as soya milk, and almond milk in such conditions.

Soda

Soda and carbonated drinks are enriched in artificial sweeteners, and colours and are highly acidic. It affects teeth surface causing erosion and dental decay, it also affects Systemic health problems such as diabetes, and obesity in children.

Limit its consumption: Parents should avoid or limit soda consumption in kids, guide and educate them about the harmful effects and use alternative healthy drink options.

Use alternative drinks: Such as water, fresh juices, smoothies and milkshakes are healthy options. Avoid intake of any drinks except water at bedtime, parents should monitor their kid’s dental health regularly and guide them to maintain good oral hygiene.

Hot Chocolate and Cocoa

Hot chocolate drinks are most popular among children they cause harmful effects on teeth, rapidly damage them and form cavities.

Alternative Way

Use it after a meal: Parents should serve hot chocolate or coca after meals. Meal increases salivary flow in the oral cavity, and washing out all the content of sweet beverages, along with proper brushing, and using mouthwash are also important to reduce dental problems.

Use straws: Guide kids to use straws for drinks instead of cups or glasses, it limits teeth exposure to sugar or acidity and provides protective effects.

Energy Drinks

Energy drinks are commonly used by young kids during physical and sports activity, to get instant energy but their acidic content and sugar-enriched properties make them unhealthy drinks, they affect dental gums, cause gum infection, blending and bad breathing.

Alternate way: Limit energy drinks or use water to stay hydrated, if energy drinks are used for certain reasons, thoroughly rinse the oral cavity with water to neutralize the acidic environment and use fluoride water in kids to control dental decay.

Flavoured Water and Fruit Infusion

Flavoured water or fruit infusion in the form of detox water is commonly used by teenagers, to reduce weight or alternative option to carbonated drinks, although they are less in sugar content, citrus fruit slices make it acidic and cause tooth erosion.

Alternative way: Use plain water, limit flavour water or use it moderately, and consume natural fruit and vegetable slices that are non-citrus to protect the kid’s teeth.

Conclusion

Artificial sweeteners and citrus drinks affect kids’ teeth more readily as compared to adults, they can cause dental decay, teeth erosion, gum infection and halitosis problems in kids, parents should guide children to avoid soda, artificial juice and energy drinks and offer them healthy options such as fluoride water, natural fresh juices for good dental and overall health of the children.

*This is a collaborative post