Diet and teeth

When someone has control over their own diet, controlling sugar consumption can be a challenge. Educational and motivational materials such as diet sheets and wall charts can help map the diet for inspection and highlighting areas for improvement. This is a useful tool to take along to the dentist so they can highlight the areas for improvement and offer alternatives. When helping someone choose what to eat and drink look for hidden sugars. Many surprising foods such as Wotsits and flavoured waters have surprising amounts of sugar in. Be sure to check the label and measure out using sugar cubes the amount in some of your favourite foods and drinks. Sometimes seeing this can provide a useful comparison.

Look out for foods high in dietary acids, sugar-free fizzy drinks and juice flavoured drinks are often very acidic. This can lead to erosion of the tooth enamel. The outside of the teeth become very thin, and in extreme cases can snap. This can be caused by continual regurgitation which can be due to medical reasons or behavioural challenges. If this is a concern, speak to your local speech and language team.

When looking at a person's diet the timings of food and drink can be very important as to what is consumed. Try to limit sugar and acid attacks to four times a day. Keep drink between meals with water or milk and do not eat or drink anything other than water after brushing your teeth at night. If someone needs to eat more regularly then try to have snacks that are low in acids and sugars such as breadsticks and cheese. If fizzy drinks are to be consumed use a straw and rinse with water afterwards. Do not brush teeth for 30 to 45 minutes after eating or drinking. If a person has poor tongue control which would hamper deglutination avoid sticky foods such as raisins and toffees.