Your grandchildren's teeth

I had always assumed that dried fruit was healthier than sweets but apparently this sticks to teeth for longer so I am probably wrong.

Weren't sugary drinks identified as the major culprit in tooth decay? I shudder when I see babies sucking on feeding bottles filled with what is probably Ribena, before they 'graduate' to Coke.

"Parents and carers may feel that giving sugar-sweetened drinks is comforting, but in reality it's more likely to cause pain and suffering as it is the major cause of tooth decay in toddlers."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29413906

I think we are all much more aware of the dangers nowadays and are being much more mindful of what we give children. I admit I wasn't so careful years ago when my oldest grandchildren were small but now we don't have sugary drinks and tend to give the young ones fruit treats, and things like olives and nuts when they are old enough.. with the occasional sweet treat or ice-cream.

Could the problem be down to children's teeth not being cleaned properly? I think quite a lot of parents let their quite young children clean their own teeth. I cleaned my kids' teeth twice a day until they were each about nine years old, by which time I hoped they had taken on board how important it was, how important the health of their teeth was, and how to do it properly.

Same as Bags.

Where my daughter and granddaughter lives; North Lincs, there is not a National Health service dentist to be found. I know my grand daughter is entitled to free dentist check ups but how do we get them?

I agree - more and better teeth cleaning. Young parents are so busy these days with their jobs etc that it is hard t devote the time and effort to it.

My GCs were taken on as NHS dental patients as long as their parents signed up for private treatment I don't know if this is common practice.

Thanks for that information annodomini. My daughter and her husband are paying for private treatment. I think she needs to ask about getting their daughter on the books.

That really does sound rather devious anno.

That used to be common round here too Anno but the PCT (or whatever it is called today ) stopped allowing dentists to have 'exempt only' contracts. Now, dentists have to have an NHS contract for adults before they are allowed to treat exempt patients eg children. There are, however, quite a few practices still taking NHS patients

DGS1 has had a filling despite DD being a dentist's daughter and almost neurotic about food, meals, regulated sweets, drinks, teeth cleaning etc.

I also think it is down to poor dental hygiene. Both of my children drank sugary drinks, they loved having saucers of sultanas and, of course, they ate sweets - both have only had a filling each in the last 3 years or so.

Sadly, my youngest GD had to have a filling at quite a young age and my daughter said to the dentist that as she, herself, had no fillings (at that time) it was probably due to Manx water not containing flouride - the dentist replied that it was more likely down to her mother making sure that she (my daughter) brushed her teeth properly and regularly.

I'm afraid my GC enjoy Ribena - much watered down. I think their parents are good about teeth cleaning though. Both DD and DS didn't have fillings until their 20s - late 20s too I think and I've not been particularly fussy about drinks though I've always nagged about teeth cleaning; it is a boring activity

I agree with thatbags re cleaning. I always cleaned my children's teeth, just letting them have a go right at the end. They still have good teeth - I don't think my 33 year old son has had any extractions or fillings.

I try to brush my grandchildren's teeth when they stay over but, despite trying to make it fun, it's an uphill struggle as they are used to doing it themselves when at home. In my grandson's case (2 yrs 6 mths) , this consists of him wetting the brush, putting it in his mouth, sucking the water off it and spitting out water- not ideal.

I think fruit juice should be diluted, especially as it is what they drinks most of the time, but nobody else in the family does this. As a child, I mainly drank water, and a treat would be when we bought a couple of bottles of Corona when the lorry came round. I very rarely buy my grandchildren sweets.

thatbags just been telling DH what you said about cleaning DC's teeth and he said 'that is proper parenting'

If you need ammunition to support your way of brushing and inform the parents can I suggest this www.toothfairyblog.org/ten-tips-terrific-toddler-teeth/
I used to rinse, but know now they should just spit!

None of my dgc drink coke or fruit juices-only milk, water or the occasional flavoured water. They don't actually like fizzy drinks. The littlest one, 18 months, was breast fed and weaned onto water and milk. So far the 8 year olds have not had any dental work done but they do eat raisins etc. In fact for the first two years of their lives they thought raisins were sweeties!!

Katek your GC sound like mine. When they moved to Scotland and registered with a new Dentist, she was amazed that none of then had the slightest bit of decay.
My DD makes sure that either she or SiL cleans their teeth for them. The eldest who is nearly eight is allowed to clean her own teeth now, but she is still checked up on from time to time to make sure that she is doing it properly.

harri, please tell your DH thank you and a from me. Proper parenting was indeed the idea!

GS1 & 2 have lovely teeth. GS1 only drinks water and has never liked flavoured drinks. His brotherwould probably like them but doesn't get the chance! GS1 brushes his own teeth now and has a timer so that he does the full 2 minutes.

You are right baggy apparently children can't properly clean their teeth until they are nine years old.

My son had his first filling when he was thirty six and that was only because a tooth cracked, not sure why that happened. DD1 has had one filling, she is now 41. DD2 had fillings from the age of three, I was always fussy about my children's teeth so was surprised her teeth were decaying. I was very happy that her adult teeth were normal.

When my second GD was cutting her front teeth they looked discoloured as they were just coming through. DD1 was extremely worried and immediately took her to the dentist to see what was wrong, they didn't really know. They suggested it was her diet, she was breastfed and just starting solids. Her teeth were cleaned thoroughly by one of her parents every night and still are. She had to have her three front teeth out when she was around 18 months old. My oldest GD age 9 has her mother's small strong gappy teeth and no decays and is always told what a good girl she is. GD now 6 has similar looking teeth to my family and the dentist regularly coats a substance on her teeth which we think has greatly helped. Her adult teeth are coming through and look good.

I spoke to my eldest sister about GD's teeth and her GS also six has the very same problem and had to have his front teeth extracted. She said it runs in our family.

While diet makes a huge difference on teeth, I think genes determine what sort of teeth you will have.

That's true, my teeth are tough as old boots and DBH's crumble alarmingly. DC's have hardly a filling between them, but DGCs are paranoid about cleaning their teeth so I have no fears there!

My mother stopped cleaning my teeth for me when I was five (4 of us, don't blame her!) but on our mirror was a picture of a pair of eyes and underneath was written 'I am watching you!' and I believed her!

My mother is about 81 years old and she still had all of her own teeth up until a couple of years ago. She had her one and only extraction after she had visited one of her friends who had grilled some sort of breaded chicken thing for lunch and, according to my mother, it was so hard, when she bit into it, it cracked one of her teeth!

I think genes determine what sort of teeth you will have

I also think that. I had a friend who brushed her teeth maybe a couple of times per week but they were always brilliant white! Mine were brushed twice a day and weren't brilliant white (I was about 18 at the time). I mentioned this to my dentist and asked why her teeth were so white and mine aren't. He said that her teeth will not have as much calcium in them so she will be prone to losing them earlier if she isn't careful. If that is true, surely it has to be genertically determined?