ORAL HEALTH

Snacks for Good Oral Health

Some snacks that are safe for our teeth include: 

All fresh fruits

such as apples, bananas, satsumas, grapes, berries, melon. 

Vegetable sticks

such as carrots, cucumber, celery. 

Savoury things

Crackers, cheeses, breadsticks, hummus, toast with butter or savoury spread, meats, pretzels, oatcakes or savoury rice cakes. 

Drinks

Have water or plain milk between meals. Keep juices and smoothies to mealtimes, and sugary drinks as occasional treats. 

Top Tip!

Even healthy foods can damage our teeth. AVOID snacking on cereal bars, yogurts, juice, smoothies, honey or dried fruits. Once juiced, pureed or dried fruit can cause decay. Include these in your meals instead. Try the “Change for life food  scanner” App to help you find sugar free snacks! 

Lunchbox Tips & Recipe Ideas



Click the button below to see the top lunchbox tips and recipes recommended on the NHS website!



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Visiting The Dentist

NHS dental care is free for under 18s. 


Your child should see a dentist by the age of 1. 

Mums also get free NHS dental care for the first year of your child's life – take your child with you to the dentist so they can experience the environment! Regular attendance at the dentist is essential to prevent pain or problems. 


Your dentist may offer to apply fluoride varnish to the teeth to keep them strong and healthy.

Not Registered with a Dentist? 

You can use the NHS website to find dentists near you.


Visit: https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist


If you don’t have access to the internet or have a dental emergency you can call 111. 


Your Family Centre can also support you to find a local dentist.   

Register with Family Centre

Advice for Under 3's

As soon as your child has teeth, brush them with a smear of children's toothpaste. 


Check the ingredients of your child's toothpaste. It should have no less than 1,000ppm fluoride.

 

Brush twice daily. Last thing at night and once in the morning.

 

From the age of 1 year, feeding overnight, or soothing to sleep with milk can increase the risk of dental decay. If you continue to breastfeed during the night past 1 year, seek advice from a dentist or health visitor to help support you with your breastfeeding, while still protecting your child's teeth.


Don’t add sugar to foods or drink.  When introducing solids start with more bitter foods – not straight to sweet flavours.


Bottles and dummies after 12 months can cause problems with the growth of teeth and development of facial muscles and should not be used. 

Tooth brushing for 3-6s 

Brush twice daily, with a fluoride toothpaste, using a pea sized amount. 


Brush last thing at night and once in the morning. 


Check the ingredients of your child's toothpaste. It should have more than 1,000 ppm fluoride. 


Brushing should still be your responsibility, but  encourage your child to join in. 


Spit out toothpaste after brushing but do not rinse with water. This allows the fluoride time to strengthen the teeth. 

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Tooth brushing for 6+ 

From the age of 6 your child can use regular adult toothpaste. Check the ingredients, it should  contain 1,450ppm fluoride. 


Your child can start to brush their own teeth. But be aware, it takes time to master the use of a brush, so watch and help when needed. 


As above, brush twice daily, before bed, and once in the morning. 


As above, spit out the toothpaste, but don’t rinse with water. 

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How Diet Affects Teeth 

Sugar is well known to cause decay, but did you know it is how often you eat sugar that damages your teeth, not how much sugar is eaten? 


Your teeth can only cope with sugar in the mouth 3 x daily. More frequently than that, holes will start to form. 

Only have sweet foods and drinks at mealtimes.


By avoiding snacking on or drinking sugary things between your meals, you will reduce how often your teeth get damaged by sugar. This will help prevent holes.


For example: a biscuit with lunch is fine, but any snacks between lunch and dinner need to be sugar free.

 

If your child wants a sweet treat after school, save it to have it as pudding after dinner.


See our snack suggestions to keep hungry children happy!

Top Tip!

Does your child not like toothpaste? There are many toothpastes out there that have the correct level of fluoride that are fruit flavoured. You can even get unflavoured, non foaming toothpaste from some chemists.

Information by Hertfordshire Special Care Dental Service 

Using a Dummy

  • Ways Of Soothing And Calming Your Baby
    • Skin contact with your baby in the early days and beyond will encourage healthy brain development.
    • Holding your baby close: When babies have lots of cuddles and love, you both release a hormone called oxytocin. This helps you both feel calm and happy
    • Rocking, swaying, singing, talking and massaging your baby
  • If You Decide To Use A Dummy

    Dummy use is recognised as a parental choice determined by the needs of your baby. If you decide to use a dummy it is recommended that you consider waiting until your baby is about four–six weeks old. This will allow you to establish a good milk supply if you are breastfeeding. Dummy use can also interfere with how you interpret the signals that your baby gives when they are hungry.

  • Dummy Use For Premature Babies

    An orthodontic dummy is sometimes recommended by a health professional if your baby is born prematurely. This helps to establish and develop sucking skills required for breast or bottle feeding.

  • Dummy Use And Sleep
    • There are some studies that suggest using a dummy MIGHT reduce the chance of sudden infant death, however, the reasons for this are not clear. There is currently a lack of researched-based information available to support this
    • If you choose to use a dummy it is recommended that you offer it consistently at the beginning of every sleep both day and night
    • If the dummy falls out during the baby’s sleep there is no need to keep putting it back in
  • Safe Dummy Use
    • Never use a dummy with a neck cord or other attachments as this may lead to choking
    • Don’t force your baby to take a dummy or put it back in if your baby spits it out.
    • Don't put anything sweet on the dummy.
    • Keep it as clean as possible by regularly sterilising as you would any other bottle or feeding teat.
    • Check dummies regularly as cracks, splits and holes can trap germs.

    It is recommended that you stop giving a dummy to your baby between 6 and 12 months.

  • Dummy Use In Toddlers (Over 12 Months)

    Speech and Language Development

    Once a child starts to make sounds, persistent dummy use can impact babbling and experimentation of sounds. When a child has a dummy in their mouth they are less likely to copy sounds an adult makes or to attempt to babble and play with sounds themselves. These are important skills for speech development.

    Your child may not be able to make the full range of tongue movements necessary for making all the speech sounds if they frequently have a dummy in their mouth,. This could lead to delayed speech sound development and/or unclear speech.


    Teeth

    The longer your baby uses a dummy the more likely it is to change the way the teeth grow. Prolonged dummy use can lead to tooth decay, especially the front teeth if the dummy is dipped in sweet things.


    Middle Ear Infection

    There is some suggestion that sucking on a dummy for long periods can result in your baby having middle ear infections (NICE 2009) although the evidence to support this is limited.

Useful Contacts

Hertfordshire Community Breastfeeding: www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/breastfeeding

Hertfordshire Family Centre Service: 0300 123 7572

National Breastfeeding Helpline: 0300 100 0212

National Childbirth Trust: 0300 330 0700

Breastfeeding Network Support Line: 08444 120 995

Association of Breastfeeding Mothers Helpline: 0300 305 453

La Leche League: 0345 120 2918