Tooth decay has a major impact on children’s health and wellbeing. Early Childhood Caries - often affects the upper front teeth spreading rapidly to other teeth and is related to the consumption of sugary drinks in baby bottles or sipping cups.
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To protect your children’s teeth:
Diet
- Reduce both the amount and how often sugary foods and drinks are given to children
- Breast feeding provides the best nutrition for babies. The best drinks for young children aged 1 to 2 are full fat milk and water. From 2 years old, semi-skimmed milk and water are suitable as long as the child is a good eater.
- Don’t add sugar to weaning foods or drinks
- Aim to introduce drinking from a free-flow cup from six months of age and stop feeding from a bottle from 12 months of age
Tooth Brushing
- Start brushing children’s teeth as soon as the first tooth appears and supervise their tooth brushing until they are seven or eight years old.
- Brush children’s teeth twice daily, including just before bed, using a fluoride toothpaste.
- From the age of three, use only a pea sized amount of fluoride toothpaste, for younger children a smear
- Brush for two minutes twice daily with fluoride toothpaste in order to remove plaque bacteria. Spit don’t rinse
Fluoride
- Tap water in Rutland is not supplemented with fluoride
- Children aged over 3 should have their teeth coated with fluoride varnish by their dentist every 6 months. This treatment is free and available to all children
Dental Visits
- Take a child to see the dentist as soon as the first tooth shows in the mouth
- Children should be taken to the dentist regularly not just when in pain
- Dental Care is free of charge up until the age of 18 if you attend an NHS dentist
- Free NHS dental care for ALL pregnant mothers and for twelve months after birth
- Use only sugar-free medicines.
