Through healthy nutrition, parents can lay the foundations for both the dental health and the general health of their child.  Regular mealtimes are essential to healthy nutrition.  Children often require snacks between meals, after which they seldom brush their teeth.  Acids can then form undisturbed, which will soften the teeth and allow decay to take hold.

Snacks between meals should therefore be healthy.  Giving sweets as a treat is not a good idea.

Many foods contain hidden carbohydrates which are hazardous to teeth - including white bread, pizza, ketchup, drinks and sausages.  For example, one can of cola contains the equivalent of 12 cubes of sugar - orange juice contains even more, even the kind marked "no added sugar".

Acidic foods such as citrus fruits, very acidic apples or pickled gherkins also assist the work of bacteria: they attack the teeth directly, so helping the bacteria to decay the teeth more rapidly.  Even bananas (the natural foodstuff which is the greatest source of decay), pretzel sticks and crisps contain many agents which pave the way for tooth decay.

Sugar-free
Only sweets which contain no sugar (sucrose) can be marked as sugar-free.  However, they may contain other carbohydrates, which will react with the bacteria contained in plaque to release harmful acids.

Tooth-friendly
Only sweets which produce no significant formation of acid in the mouth can be described as kind to teeth or tooth-friendly.

Associated logo: Internationally protected symbol for tooth-friendly products