March 20 is World Oral Health Day, and this year's theme is "Proud of Healthy Mouths" and the sub-theme is "Focus on Oral Health and Have a Bright Smile for a Lifetime". With the popularization of oral health education, in daily life, everyone's awareness of oral prevention is also constantly improving, in clinical work, one of the hot topics is the intake of "sugar", which foods can cause dental caries, how to better prevent and control the occurrence and development of dental caries? Dr. Ren Zhiming, Department of Stomatology, Shunyi Women's and Children's Hospital, came to popularize science for everyone.
"Do you still eat sugar? Teeth are eaten with sugar and broken! Presumably many parents are very familiar with this sentence. Dr. Ren Zhiming introduced that when many parents bring their children to the dental department to see their teeth, they will turn around and say this to their children when they hear the doctor say that their children have many teeth and poor oral hygiene. So, what kind of sugar can break teeth? Sugar added to food or beverages, foods such as chocolate, biscuits, bread, hawthorn cake or hawthorn chips, preserved fruits, preserves, sugary cereals, ice cream, desserts or jams, drinks such as sugary formula or sweetened milk, lactic acid bacteria drinks, honey, syrups, autumn pear paste, fruit juices, sports drinks, cola, etc. These foods and drinks with high sugar and carbohydrates increase the risk of tooth decay and are one of the main causes of obesity and systemic diseases. It is recommended that parents scientifically control their children's sweet intake in daily life, do not eat sweets and snacks between meals and before going to bed, do not add sugar to water, eliminate sugary drinks or carbonated drinks, eat a balanced diet, appropriately consume crude fiber foods, eat more seasonal vegetables, fruits and other foods that are beneficial to human growth and development and dental health.
Some parents will sigh: "Why don't you let your child eat sugar, or will there be bad teeth?" In this regard, Dr. Ren Zhiming pointed out that sugar is one of the risk factors for dental caries, oral cleaning is "king", if oral cleaning is not carried out in time after normal meals on weekdays, especially before going to bed, some food will remain on the tooth surface and between teeth for a long time, which will also be conducive to the reproduction of caries-causing bacteria, and then metabolize acid production, thereby corroding teeth to form dental caries. Therefore, even if the child has started kindergarten or elementary school, please insist on helping the child clean his mouth every day before going to bed. By flossing to help clean the impaction in the adjacent space of the teeth, using the arc brushing method to help the child brush the inside, outside and occlusal surface of the teeth, and then let the child practice brushing by himself, brushing time 2~3 minutes, brushing 2~3 times a day. After eating at school, if you do not have the conditions to brush your teeth in time, you should also develop a good habit of rinsing your mouth in time. Coupled with the control of snacks and sweets, and regular visits to the dental department to check the whole mouth teeth, this is an effective measure to prevent and control the decay of children's teeth. It is hoped that under the joint maintenance of parents and children and dental professionals, children will have healthy teeth, whole body health, and a bright smile for life.
Text|Department of Stomatology Ren Zhiming