Looking after your children's teeth

At Your Co-op Little Pioneers, we're committed to children’s health and wellbeing so we’ve teamed up with Startwell to bring you some key facts, tips and advice on the importance of keeping your children's teeth healthy and clean. 

We know that cleaning your child’s teeth can be a mission. Whether that be doing it for them when they are really small, or teaching them how to do it themselves.  They’ll probably be lots of chewing and a bit of resistance in some cases! But it’s so important to start this daily routine when their first set of teeth start to poke through to avoid future problems.

First teeth, commonly known as ‘milk teeth’ play a very important part in your lifelong oral health. Your child uses them to learn to eat, chew and speak but they’re also making space for our adult teeth. If milk teeth get damaged or start to decay, this can lead to damage in the adult teeth.  And if they fall out, the gap they have created for the adult teeth underneath may be lost if surrounding teeth grow and fill this space.

Tooth decay can also cause physical, practical and emotional issues such as problems with eating (which may go on to affect the quality of their diet), poor speech development and low self-esteem/confidence.

This is not what any of us want for our children, so making brusing a normal part of their daily routine at an early age can stop these things becoming an issue and lead to great oral health.

Other ways to keep teeth healthy

Limit sugary foods and drinks

Most of us enjoy sugary food and drinks and to say to avoid them wouldn’t be realistic. We all deserve a treat after all! But it’s important to try and reduce the frequency of high sugar foods and drinks if we can. That’s because each time we enjoy something sugary it increases the risk of tooth decay. So where possible, keep them to a minimum and try to have them with meals when they are consumed.

There are lots of foods and drinks which are obviously high in sugar such as chocolate, sweets, biscuits, cakes, fizzy drinks and juice drinks. But did you know there are hidden sugars we also need to look out for? These can be found in foods that seem healthy or are sold as child friendly, such as chocolate cereals, dried fruit and milk shakes.

Correct use of bottles and cups

Water and milk are the best drinks for children under 5 so always offer these choices where possible.  Drinking from the correct bottle or cup for their age is also important. It’s recommended to stop using a babies bottles from 12 months old and to transition to an open cup (although we know this will be messy!). In which case choose a free flow beaker where the liquid will come out easily and doesn’t rely on your child having to suck out of the spout which potentially causes damage to their front teeth.

Visiting the Dentist

It’s really important to register with a dentist and have regular check-ups to keep teeth healthy. If you haven’t already, arrange for them to join you at your next check up and make it a family affair! Your dentist will advice how regularly they’d like to see you. And remember, NHS dental care is free for children under 18!