Five of a dentist's top tips to look after your children's teeth
New figures show 23,000 children had to go to the hospital to have teeth removed last year
A new study has found thousands of children across the UK were admitted to hospital for surgery last year to remove decaying teeth.
The data from the FDS (Faculty of Dental Surgery) says decay was also the main reason for 5 to 9-year-olds to be admitted to hospital, and that in 2020, 70 percent of youngsters in the country didn't see an NHS dentist.
Meanwhile, a report from Public Health England published in March which details the oral health of five-year-olds in England in 2019, shows that almost a quarter (23.4%) showed signs of dental decay.
To find out what you can do to help prevent decay in your children's tooth we've spoken to a dental expert to get his top tips on keeping your pearly whites... white.
Barry Kinshuk is the chairman of Wigan and Bolton dental communities and has been working in Wigan since 1978.
"Certainly in the years that I've been in Wigan I've seen so much decay." He told us.
But he is optimistic about our chances of preventing any decay at all talking place...
"My daughter was 23 when she got her first fillings but she always had a sweet tooth and my other two children still don't have any fillings and one's over 40 now, so it can be done!"
"It's not just because I'm a dentist, if you start as you mean to go on you can bring up a child with having no tooth decay."
So, in no particular order, here's what Barry told us are some good starting points to keep your children's oral health on track...
- Use a good toothpaste
We've all seen the adverts. 9 out of 10 dentists recommend..., well Barry has one simple recommendation, use a fluoride-based toothpaste.
Fluoride is a chemical found in many toothpaste brands which gets right into the enamel of the teeth and helps to protect them from decay.
"The biggest thing that ever changed in dentistry is when fluoride was introduced into toothpaste." Said Barry.
"If you get a tube of toothpaste, on the back in very small writing, it will tell you how many parts per million fluoride is available in that toothpaste."
"Ideally, we're looking at fluorides 1350ppm to 1450ppm is the figure that you're looking for in a toothpaste."
"You can get ones with 1000 parts per million, which is sometimes for children up to about three years of age if people don't want to give the full amount."
"I always used regular toothpaste, right from the word go. I never used children's toothpaste, I didn't use a lot of toothpaste and it's using that small amount, that smear of toothpaste, that's all you need."
"And really, getting that extra fluoride in really does help."
"But you have to remember that fluoride in a sense is a medicine, it should be kept out of the reach of children as well."
"Not many children would eat lots of tubes of toothpaste, but it could be harmful, so it's really about that control and why the parent puts the toothpaste on the toothbrush."
No drinks before bed
Can't go to sleep without that glass of juice on the side? You need to hear this one...
"You should brush twice a day, in the morning and in the evening before bed." Barry reminds us.
"After they've had that brushing, they should not be having anything to eat or drink, particularly the night-time one, the night time one is the most important."
"You often discuss with parents to try to get to the basis of why have your children got some decay. In these cases where you were seeing lots of decay they were often having drinks by the bedside simply sipping through the night."
"That's when teeth will decay the most, so the most important message from this is is to brush your children's teeth at night before they go to bed and that's it."
"If they really want anything by the bedside, it is water only."
Try not to snack
This is something we're all probably guilty of at some point, but it turns out snacking can cause issues in all sorts of complicated ways...
"I think we all know that sugar is bad for the teeth, children are always going to eat sweets, they're always going to have different drinks but we have to start as we mean to go on."
"When growing up with my own children I still thought diet drinks were quite good because they didn't have sugar in, I was taken in!"
"Then I realised there can be just as bad."
"When you get many people coming up saying 'don't have sugar, sometimes the message the public will take away is to get the things without sugar, the sugar-free."
"Nodamages's fine if you're worried about weight, but not necessarily bad teeth because those sugar-free diet drinks will also cause tooth decay because what we're looking at is acid attack..."
"When you have something to eat, the acid in your mouth rises significantly, and then slowly reduces down over a period of about forty minutes."
"You can imagine that somebody who is snacking a lot is going to get consistent acid attacks and those acid attacks will then lead to decay because the acid is the thing that causes the problem with the teeth."
"Whatever you have at mealtimes is probably is going to be fine, because you're going to get an acid attack so, the odd glass of pop is not going to do that much damage."
"But if you had something going on over a period of time, the same amount could cause multiple damage."
"In an office, some co-workers have a can of and they'll sit sipping it and that is the worst thing you can do because you're continually getting acid attack after acid attack after acid attack."
Breastfeeding is best
This could be a tricky one but even off the bottle sooner rather than later is best.
"Decay normally takes place in the back two teeth but the only time you see, and I've seen this on many occasions where you get decay in the front teeth is because of bottles."
"So it starts from birth and in an ideal world, you'd probably say that breastfeeding is best".
"After that, moving on to a free-flow cup. What you don't want is children on bottles after 12 months but ideally after six months. Instead, they should be drinking from a free-flow cup."
"Also, in there, that he really should be water and milk. Juice should not be introduced at those ages."
Start from an early age
The earlier you get into these habits, the harder it is to break out of them.
"Nobody really likes going to the dentist and there is nothing nice about having teeth out if teeth have got to come out."
"The problem is that many people only go to the dentist, or only bring their children to the dentist when there's a problem."
"That's why there's a fear of dentist because by the time you get to that stage, it's going to be something unpleasant and really, that's what we want to avoid."
"If we can get the children in, right from as soon as they're born, because even though they may not have teeth in that first year, I like to see the parent and the child and just talk about that prevention."
"In a sense, you, as the parent are the dentist, 365 days a year."
"You're the one that's going to do the brushing, you're going to be looking after the teeth, you're the one that's going to see the problems and think 'I better go to the dentist."
"And children's baby teeth are vital, one of the programmes developed in Greater Manchester was called Baby Teeth Do Matter. "
"Parents used to say to me, well, they don't really matter, they're going to get second teeth but I'd say if you get decayed first teeth, you're going to get to decayed second teeth."
"I remember one family who had a number of children. The first three I'd sent to the hospital and had to have teeth out and it tends to happen from one child through to the next child and the next and on."
"It really is about seeing the dentist regularly so that going to the dentist is not all about having treatment."
More information
If you want to do more research into how to make positive steps to improve your and your children's oral hygiene, take a look at the links below.
NHS - Take care of your teeth and gums
Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.