How Does a Childs Diet Affect Their Dental Health?
Children must have a balanced diet for their teeth to develop properly. They also need a balanced diet for healthy gum tissue around the teeth. Equally important, a diet high in certain kinds of carbohydrates, such as sugar and starches, may place your child at a extra risk of tooth decay. Check how often your child eat foods with sugar or starch in them. Foods with starch include breads, crackers, pasta and snacks such as pretzels and potato chips. When looking for sugar in your child’s diet, look beyond the sugar bowl and candy dish. A variety of foods contain one or more types of sugar, and all types of sugars can promote dental decay. Fruits, a few vegetables and most milk products have at least one type of sugar. Sugar can be found in many processed foods, even some that do not taste sweet. For example, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich not only has sugar in the jelly, but may have sugar added to the peanut butter. Sugar is also added to such condiments as catsup and salad dressi
