Easter is just around the corner. And while most adults understand and celebrate the religious significance of this holiday, most kids just look forward to their Easter baskets full of candy. There’s just one problem – all that sugar can wreak havoc on your kids’ teeth and gums! Fortunately, there are a few ways to minimize the harm and still allow your little ones to enjoy their Easter treats.
- Regulate when your children eat candy. Rather than letting them have a sweet treats every few hours throughout the day, limit their treats to right after mealtime. Remember that the more contact their teeth and gums have with sugary candy, the worse it is for their oral health. So limiting the number of times they eat candy during the day will help.
- Encourage your kids to rinse their mouths with water after eating their sweets. If you want them to brush their teeth after eating candy, you should actually wait an hour or so after they finish their treats. This may seem counter-intuitive, but brushing right after eating sugar can actually do more harm than good. That’s because sugar weakens the enamel layer of the tooth surface, and brushing too soon after eating sugar can actually do even more damage to the enamel. Instead, just have your kids wash their mouths out with water to remove as much of the leftover sugar as possible without harming the tooth enamel.
- Look for Easter candy that is lower in sugar. Many times, it’s hard to tell the difference in taste between low-sugar chocolate and regular chocolate, for example, and the low-sugar varieties do less damage to your child’s teeth and gums.
- Make sugary foods an occasional treat – NOT a regular part of your child’s diet. All of us enjoy eating sweet foods on occasion. But if you limit your children’s sugar consumption to special occasions (such as Easter), you can not only minimize the damage done to the oral health, you can also make sure that they’re accustomed to enjoying healthier treats on a regular basis – such as nuts, cheese and fruit, for example. That will benefit not only their oral health, but their overall health as well.
- Substitute some of the candy in their Easter baskets for small toys, crayons and coloring books. Your little ones will enjoy toys just as much as candy; maybe even more!
Easter is a holiday that all of look forward to, especially our kids. By following these simple tips, you can allow your children to enjoy their Easter baskets and keep their teeth and gums healthy at the same time.
